One year! And Happy birthday dad!!!‏

Dear Family,

Well hello everybody! Long time no talk right? Well this week has been a week of miracles! First just as a quick announcement I've been in Japan for over a year now!! How crazy is that! That also means that I only have ten months left... It's going way fast! I've been pretty busy this week so it barely seemed like I reached a year but hey, it was good! So now I'll dive right in to the report of miracles!

This week we had a couple events, for example, as you already know, temple Pday. But also we had zone meeting and district meeting. Then we had weekly planning and a visit to the Larsen family for dinner. Then more weekly planning and basketball with a member’s son. Another huge miracle, there was a baptism here for Suzuki Kyoudai! And he received the Holy Ghost already. So that's way cool! Then ward council and church, and today we went to a place called Sakuragichou and went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe followed by going to some cool stores there! Then in all that extra time we went finding those wonderful prepared souls that are out there. So that's pretty much a list of everything. But now I'll talk about a few of them now in more detail.

At the Larsen's for dinner, we had some flipping delicious Chinese food because Sister Larsen is Chinese, well Taiwanese. So that was way good and Elder Carlini and I gave a message on Liahonas in our lives, for example the scriptures, or as in Makenna's farewell talk "the Holy Ghost"! (She emailed me the talk she wrote) So it was a cool time. We dendo in a lot of the same places from day to day so we spent a good bit of time near the church and at the Oceanside parks there. It was way cool! It's getting pretty chilly now though so I might need to go get a nice warm coat soon, but the sweatshirt makes studies nice and comfy. Thanks mom! I guess it all kind of leads up to Saturday though. On Saturday we went visiting a potential investigator of ours and on the way met the craziest old couple ever, they said hello to us before we said konichiwa to them which is impressive in Japan. Then they kept going off on random stuff and the husband was singing Michael Jackson songs half the time but hey they may be at church next week so we'll see. At least we had a blast talking to them! Then later that day we had a lesson with the one and only Aoki San who came to church last week! The bishop and his wife actually moved their temple time just to come to be there for the lesson which was great because it went really well. We were able to teach the whole restoration and he basically just listened and absorbed everything said, he really liked it and even had prayed this last week. So now he has the Book of Mormon and has started to read that. He came to church yesterday as well, technically if he wanted to he could be baptized any time now as long as we could teach him everything. He's pretty busy this week so I don't know about meeting but he'll be at church next week! So that was our big thing on Saturday but then immediately after that Suzuki had his baptism and now he is a member of the church! It was a way cool baptism, and I even got to say the closing prayer at his request.

Yesterday at church we had Aoki and a new investigator we found a week, or two ago after Elder Yamashita's thing, Mass San, came and we did a lesson with him at the church too so now he's almost into official lessons. The real miracle there is that because we didn't teach the restoration we hadn't quite gotten to the Book of Mormon but after church some members were talking with him and gave him one for us and gave him a commitment to read. It was way cool! Miracles!

Another miracle for the week though, and this one is more funny I now I think. So this month money for me has been a little tight, I'm not really sure where it all went but it was pretty tight. So today we ate at Hard Rock Cafe which was going to bring me to some serious lack of money until next week, but some members came in while we were eating and ate with their family then paid for us too, so I still have money, thank goodness for the Sorensen family! Now I don't have to stress with money! They are the best!

Some other fun things from today were that we got to go to... The Pokémon Center! It's a real thing, and it's a way cool store! It has everything Pokémon you could imagine. I bought some Japanese cards there... So that was cool! We also took some cool pictures by Landmark Tower that I'll be sending home! Yep so that was my week pretty much! Also it was way cool to hear that Makenna used the story she asked me to send her in her farewell talk! It was cool stuff to read, so it's been a fun week! This next week will be cool too! Can't wait to see how everyone's doing! I guess for now though I will wish everyone a great week! And for my weekly admonition: let's make sure we don't forget our prayers, especially the ones where we get to really kneel down and talk with Heavenly Father, they can make or break any day I've found. So everyone, pray lots! I love you!

Love,

Elder Gailey

P.s. Get feeling better mom and Morgan and everyone who is getting sick over there! It's important! Also I'm on the lookout for my boxes! I'll keep you posted there! You're the best! And dad, the only new food I've had recently is called shabu shabu, and it's basically where they have a pot of water and sauce (it's separated in the middle) and it's boiling like crazy and you grab some raw meat and cook it in there then dip it in sauce and eat it, it's delicious! You would really like it!

P.p.s. This Saturday is transfer calls so I'll find out if I'm staying or going before next weeks email!  Aaaaaaannnnnnnndddddd it's dad’s birthday on Sunday!!!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! I'm sorry I don't have anything sent to you! Maybe I can get something in a Christmas package! But I love you dad!!! Have a great birthday!!

Elder Gailey and Elder Terry at LandmarkTower

Elder Gailey at Landmark Tower

Random Park

 

Suzuki Kyoudai's Baptism

Pictures right after getting a hair cut!

 

Lots of District pictures at the temple!

Temple Pday in Yamate‏

Dear Family,

Well this week was... Wait For it...... Yet another good week! Bam! I like to be optimistic, so it's kind of hard to look back on a week and not have had a good week, BUT, it was a good week none the less. Elder Carlini and I are still getting along well and are finally seeing some success. It seemed like the first couple week of the transfer was a mission wide struggle. But this last week some success came! Seeing how you all got the email of last week on Wednesday I don't have a whole ton to report about, but I will give you the most entertaining while yet still effective email home you've had yet! Hopefully. So we didn't have any official lessons until Sunday when we had some great miracles, so now I will summarize up until that point.

それで行きましょうぜ！ (Translated:  So lets go!)

This last week we were privileged to get to meet and spend 12 hours listening to the one and only Elder Yamashita of the seventy. I believe he gave a prayer in general conference this last time. But, he came so there was a huge conference in a place called Shonandai, at the stake center there. Basically we spent from 9:15 am until about 10:10 pm ish at that building. The missionary conference was only until 4 but then president Wada did his presentation thing for investigators where he shows a movie and teaches from it. Then Elder Yamashita did another conference to all the missionaries and ward council members together. Basically he talked about all the things that they are doing right and wrong and how they can work better with us.  It was cool! It was an awesome opportunity to hear from a general authority, we're definitely blessed as missionaries to get that opportunity so often. And on top of that we run into them a lot at the temple which is also a great blessing that we get to go to the temple every transfer. Speaking of which, it was way good today, I really do enjoy going to the temple, hopefully if my plane comes in early, we can go to the Seattle temple "on the way home" even though it's a little out of the way, right?

So here comes the miracle portion. I believe I wrote about a guy named Aoki in my last email. We met him right next to a part and got his phone number. Well we were in texting contact with him all week and on Saturday we found out Nakamoto (who is still suspending lessons) wasn't going to be going to an activity our ward mission leader made to watch meet the Mormons. So at around 1 in the afternoon we had time to call people and we thought, hey it's normal to call your friends on short notice to hang out, so we called and invited him. Then with as much heavenly help as when we met him, his friend had just barely called and canceled their plans so he was free and looking for something to do, so he came! And we got to give him a really good intro to church so that Sunday wouldn't be completely overwhelming for a guy who gets more nervous than anyone I've ever seen. Then next miracles are that he came to church, and had a great time, he got to meet tons of members, and we did a lesson with the bishop during Priesthood hour. That last one is good for a lot of reasons, one is that the bishop's dendo Fire is as large as a forest fire, and sometimes that causes problems because it burns people's branches too soon. But now that he had a nice calm lesson with the bishop he won't be afraid to talk to him. And lastly he is now taking lessons and has committed to come to the church on Saturday before Suzuki gets baptized for a lesson, and then to stay for the baptism! So we've got an investigator now, a real live investigator! And we also met with a guy Elder Carlini met in Machida named Nakamura, who just moved here and he's taking lessons now too! So now we've got one solid new investigator and a new decent new investigator.

So that was really good! Then I also got my new futon, and NO BUGS!! I did get a couple mosquito bites this week but that's all, it's amazing not having to worry about being bitten while you sleep. So now I'm sleeping quite joyfully on 2 brand new futons. I'm way happy about that. A fun thing that we did this week though was we helped sister Takahashi move again on Monday, but this time there were 12 missionaries and her father. So we were able to get a lot of big things done. It's nice to get to do service, I wish I could do more, but hey at least we get to do the things we do.

Real quick this is for Kaiden, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN! I can't wait to be there on your next one! Good luck in everything you do, and get ready to do all kinds of things when I am back! You're the best bud!  Love you!

Pretty crazy that in only 10 months I'll be home... It's going by too fast. When my current companion goes home I'll only have 8 left... I'm practically dead as a missionary! As time gets unfortunately shorter and shorter I'm still trying to work harder and harder, so thanks for all your support everyone. I hope all continues to go well with Oliver! And I hope everyone has a great week next week. Remember, the lord guides us in crazy ways, all we have to do is follow, always be looking for those times! Love you!

Love,

Elder Gailey

P.s. I can't think of anything else, thanks mom! I'll be on the look out! Can you send me some pictures of the stuff around the house? I wanna get the whole picture lol thanks!

P.p.s. It took you long enough to like driving Morgan! But I'm glad you like it now!

 

Landmark Tower at night

  

 Elder Gailey and Elder Poffenberger

 

An old Rolls Royce

Elder Gailey and Elder Carlini at the Temple

(the companion and I being bosses)

 

 

Late email! Too diligent? Lol‏

Dear Family,

Hey everyone, no need to worry, sorry this is coming so late! Monday got filled up with things and we literally had no Pday time. So we moved it to Tuesday and by the time we got done with everything we had to do it was almost time to be home so I'm writing this in the apartment pretty late on Tuesday night here. Intense right? Maybe not so intense but not normal either! Haha my vocabulary is so small, now I can't even pull out words like emaciated and surprise Meagan, dang! Anyways, no need to worry about this being late, I'm writing on Pday time and everything is still going well!

This week was really good! It started with a decently unfortunate beginning, and that continued throughout the week, but it was good and a happy time none the less. So just so that mom doesn't worry I'll explain the unfortunate thing in full right now. So, my entire time in Yamate I've been getting really itchy with no idea why. Towards the end of last week and beginning of this week tons, and I mean tons, of bug bite bumps started to appear on the parts of my skin not covered while I slept, mostly my arms, shins, and feet. I counted on Tuesday morning of last week (the 6th) and I had over 75 bug bites on my left arm alone. So this whole time I've been searching for the reason behind the bites and how to stop them. Everyone in the apartment was just saying, don't scratch and it will be fine, but I knew full well that even if I don't scratch then they will keep coming. So I searched and tried everything possible to rid my futons of potential bugs, and also the apartment. Nothing changed. So I inspected each individual futon way close only to find a bunch of bugs on the outside of one of them, and a couple at least on the others. So I then immediately tried to use the futon cleaner we have that just blasts heat into them, but then I got bit even more that night, so I called Sister Wada who, as expected, freaked out that I was getting bit and ordered new futons for me right there. I feel like this story makes no sense, but anyways, long story short I've gotten a gajillion bug bites this week and my arms itch like crazy, BUT, it's in the process of healing and my new futons will be here tomorrow! No more sleeping on the floor! So that was the unfortunate thing that was happening all week, but I'm getting better. Other than that the missionary work was good! 

As you all know from Sister Sorensen's email, we were invited over to their house for Saturday general conference! It was way natsukashi (nostalgic is the closest translation) to be at an American style house watching conference. There was tons of candy, they had a bucket of candy and they would put a sticky note of the word on the bucket and any time the word was said they would pass the bowl around to everyone to eat some candy. It was way fun! We actually had to go translate for one of the Sorensen's kids for his interview with the bishop, a little awkward, but not too bad! And in between sessions the Sorensen's bought Costco pizza for us all. It was way cool! There were a lot of talks that I really liked, one of the most memorable at the moment was President Uchtdorf when he talked about simplicity. I tend to either jump into worst case scenarios or make things more complicated than I need to. Or just make every possible scenario of things in my head. So simplicity stuck out a good bit to me. Hopefully I can get better! What was everyone else's favorite talk? The rest of the sessions were at the church so no other super cool stories about those, they were way good though!

So not sure why, but that was a way long explanation of two things. Other than that we met Nakamoto San this week again, but this time he kind of recognized why he isn't moving anywhere and stuff. He said that he really hasn't decided whether or not he wants to know if God exists, and if he does want to know, he doesn't know what he would want to do. So he has decided to take a week or two and not do a lesson, but just kind of decide in his heart what his desires. We can't force him to progress, but I think if it is going to come his spiritual experience is soon, he's still praying and stuff he says, but we'll see what happens, to be continued in a later email! Haha other than that no other investigator lessons. We did have some cool miracles though! Just the other day, on Monday we had a tiny bit of time, so we walked to a park and met a guy named Aoki San! He was freaking out when we first said hello, he was way scared and kept saying how he's never been stopped by gaijin or anyone on the street before. But we were able to talk a lot and became buddies and long story short after having a romantic walk through the park (joking) he accepted the invitation to come to church with us! And since then has texted us saying it's looking good for him to come this week! Woo! Miracle!

We also had some district blitz action in a place called Sakuragichou, which is where a building called landmark tower is. Way cool looking building, it reminds me of Halo a lot. But first we ate some district lunch, then we did a blitz of an hour of housing, streeting, and Kubari. We ended up being able to personally invite somewhere around 42 people to come to church or take lessons or whatever it was. And Elder Terry and I on one split got told and lectured by an old couple about dating and marrying a Japanese girl. They were like, you speak 2 languages and are volunteer and are Christian, you are high class. Marry a high class girl. And we got a good laugh out of that one. We also got to visit another couple of families this week, one the Larsen's have had us over before, but it was good they made delicious chilli, it's crazy having so much American food! We also visited a family named the Shio family, and they lived at the bottom of that hill we sent a picture of. It was ridiculous, but fun at the same time. Yamate has intense hills but it's great! We also got to help a family move yesterday, which is the main reason why our Pday got switched. The Takahashi family, who's mom is filipeano and dad is Japanese. We helped them move for most of the day, but we were able to get it all the way done pretty much and she was incredibly grateful, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, I've been slacking on the pictures lately, but I will do better! Anyways, that's what I remember of last week so far!

I think I answered most of everyone's questions but if I didn't please let me know. Also Meagan, good luck with Oliver! I'll be praying for you guys and next week when I go to the temple I'll make sure to have your names put in there. Need all the help we can get right? Hopefully everything turns out alright! I'm sure it will! I'm grateful for all the updates everyone gives me every week, they help me feel less separated from everything, so thanks! I hope everyone has a great week and that you all remember that I love you, and God loves you too! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Gailey

P.s. Mom, as far a necessaries for the package... Maybe a couple really warm sweaters for me to be able to wear while dendoing. Nothing crazy, but maybe a little thicker than the ones I have, but blue black grey and any other of those more conservative? Colors is good for me! Green would still probably be ok too! Also no I haven't gotten the package with the t-shirt yet, but I'll be looking. Oh yeah and other things... Maybe some more deodorant/shampoo/soap/toothpaste/toothbrushes and those things. Also... Some spray cheese would be nice for the ritz crackers I have... And lucky charms... I love lucky charms... Or or those frosted circus animal crackers... Anyways that's all I can think of this week so thanks mom! I love you!

Missing Email?

Well there was no email from Elder Gailey this week – don’t know what happened to it, but no one got one.  He did send lots of photos, so they are below.

 Oceanside Park

 Yamate Ward Photo

 Elder Gailey at his desk

 Random kids at the park

 Really steep hill!!

 Run people from Tokyo

 

 

 

 The really steep hill! 

 Random street band and Tim