If you build it, they will come

Dear Family,

Well hello family! How art thou all doing? This last week was really good! I had a lot of fun and we had a lot of good experiences. For example yesterday, Kazehiro San became Kazehiro Kyoudai! I was able to confirm him and in the words of my companion "it was a super spiritual experience" so it was lots of fun. I almost forgot that I was doing it until I woke up and remembered and completed my study from the previous week. Then at sacrament when the time came it all went off without a hitch. I didn't have any problems with the words of the confirmation and the Holy Ghost, and the words of the blessing came into my head right then. It was really cool. I really enjoy those opportunities. It was kind of funny because when Kazehiro sits down for a long time he eventually starts to unintentionally lean forward until he's resting on his knees. It may be hard to see where I'm going with this but basically during the confirmation I had to start holding his head/body up with my fingers as I gave the blessing. It was very intense! But he is now a member of the church and it was great!

So this week we had a bunch of cool things. I already told you I went to the temple on Tuesday and stuff, and that was lots of fun, also on the way home I bought 2 things. I bought a Japanese national soccer team jersey (it's way sick) and I also bought a batman vs. superman hat. It's pretty cool too! So it was an awesome spiritual and worldly day I guess you could say! ;)  On Wednesday we got a way tight training from president Wada in zone conference. Me and Elder Hilton (the frisbee one) translated at that conference, and boy were we tired after! It's rough on your brain hearing something, switching it, then spitting it out in another language. But it's also kind of cool because we basically turn the thinking part of our brain off and are just processing words and ideas from sentences and spitting them out again, it's a super focused efficient system. It's crazy because I generally space out a lot, but during translating it's just pure focus. So that was way cool. Anyways his training was on Ether. We read most of Ether 1, 2, 3, and 6, followed by D&C 17:1 and D&C 130:1-11. So if you want some cool study that can apply to any relationships be it family, friends, life, anything really, and some really cool insight about the urim and thummim go for it! I recommend it!

Because of zone conference we weren't able to visit Iwakabe San on Wednesday but he came to eikaiwa and turns out he has been repenting and has read the Book of Mormon every day and is learning tons from it about agency and how to be better, it's awesome to see. We also played a funny word game at eikaiwa here everyone says related words and the first and last word are then combined into a band name, album name, and song names, and well let's just leave it at the fact our band was named yellow water and we had a song named mushroom homework. Lol. I already told you about Kazehiro, so oh here we go, the Ueki family. They are our "grandparents" here I think I told the story about how they don't have any grandkids and they've seen us so much they have just adopted us basically. Anyways this last time we were there we decided to invite them to church again, and they accepted this time! Unfortunately Sister Ueki was unable to come because of her knees, but Brother Ueki came! It was his first time ever and he was flabbergasted! He loved it, absolutely loved it. He just put his hearing aids in and went to town taking notes. Then when he got home (Sister Ueki told us this) he wouldn't stop talking about it and he gave Sister Ueki the minute by minute summary of everything. And basically said we HAVE to go back next week and YOU have to come. So they will both be there next week! Woo! We also did a bunch of less active dendo for the bishopric this week checking addresses and looking for people who are potentially moved or dead. (Sad right) but that took us on many a journey up a mountain just to have to carry our bikes down stairs on the other side. (Japan loves stairs) so it was a very very eventful fun week. Hopefully we can get some new investigators flowing or some old investigators picking up steam. But I think it will come!

This part is to Meagan, you bet I see them a lot, kendama toys are all over, I knew the world champion of yo-yo in my first area, and guess what? He's also the world champion (well was) of kendama. So I'll see if I can pick him up one in the next few weeks :) and what do you mean he can see me just once in a while??? Every weekend! Also dad, those guns sound SWEET! I'm excited to fire them. It's been so long since even seeing a gun and now you have 3! If only I still worked at sports authority we could have gotten a half price safe! A big one! Woo! Also mom the car situation sounds good to me. And I wouldn't mind one of the single rooms. Elder Dunn, an Elder in my apartment right now is going to school starting January, he leaves a transfer after I do so we are thinking about it but we would still have to wait till the next semester. So I think if we can do it, when Elder Dunn gets there I'll just sell my contract and we might go live in some of the apartments his uncle owns for students. Sound ok? As for now I'm telling Elder Turley to live with his brother and that I'll just go solo for a semester. Thank you!

All those classes sound good. I think I would like to go with the Foundations of the Restoration class and do the eternal family one next semester maybe. I also talked with Elder Hilton and I found out what time he is taking Book of Mormon and Japanese, so I don't know if it's possible but if we could work it so we could take those 2 classes together that would be great. Here is the info I have on those from him:

Brad Wilcox - Monday Wednesday 10-10:50 - Book of Mormon

Arthur - Tuesday Thursday 8-8:50 - Japanese

Also I don't know how the other times work but it would be awesome to be done with school on average around 12 like I did at Green River. I feel like it's a lot easier to do that at Green River than BYU. But if it was possible with the classes you already sent me that would be perfect! I love you mom! You're the best!

I really hope everyone has a fantastic week this upcoming week and that everyone remembers to pray and study just like we are commanded I know that as we do that, every single day. Even though we don't see it at first it will bless our, lives. My life is way different when I don't pray often or don't study daily, so I know it brings blessings! Love you, have a great week!

Elder Gailey

P.S. I just got the most amazing haircut ever. It cost $10 from a less active and they even shampoos our heads! It was super nice. It normally cost about $50. Cool right!? #missionarylife

Filling the Font

Baptism and Confirmation

Elder Gailey and Takeuchi's visit

Elder Hall and Elder Gailey at the temple

Elder Gailey says Random Video and Conference Call Commercial

Another week another surprise!

Dear Family,

Well this week has been pretty good. Obviously the biggest news is of the baptism. It was great and a little frustrating at the same time, mostly great though. So Kazehiro got baptized on Saturday! It took about 4 times total to get it all done, there was some confusion on one of them so we did it once more. Elder Hall did great performing his first baptism. It was a really good service. The next day however because previous to the baptism he had been freaking out so much he didn't wake up on time due to exhaustion and he didn't make it to church so he hasn't gotten the gift of the Holy Ghost yet but he will soon so it'll be alright, this next Sunday I'll be the one doing it for him. So it was awesome!!

Most of the week was spent on prepping for this baptism but in our free time we did lots of finding and had lots of miracles! One of the cool ones was that on Wednesday we taught one of our baptismal date investigators Iwakabe San. He is the one that I talk about cars with a lot. And he is doing great. We taught him about the atonement and repentance, and he later at English class told the sisters that it was his favorite lesson yet. He mid lesson looked at us and said "I need to repent of not reading the Book of Mormon don't i?" And obviously we told him yes so he is and we're really excited for him. Now he just needs to get his work schedule changed to allow him to come on Sunday's to church. I think it'll be possible if we all pray and prepare him well enough. So woo! We're excited!

We also got to meet with a cool 17 year old kid named Naoki. Me and Elder Hilton met him on the first day of the transfer before we met our new companions. Then I facebooked him probably 5 times a week trying to get a lesson with him and we finally got one this last Thursday. So he came in and of course we played some ping pong but he's not very good so I couldn't destroy him... But after that we taught him how to pray and about God and he commited to praying every single day! I don't know if I would have done that as a 17 year old kid, you know? It was pretty darn cool.

Sorry I'm running out of things to say in my emails, I keep just thinking, oh I'll just tell them in 3 months, cause it feels so short. But I'll keep doing my best to keep you well informed. Sorry to hear about the car but I guess that means you will just have to drive the truck. ;) and hey if you don't want me to take the truck to college.... A jeep would do well in summer and winter! Perfect right? I hope everyone at home is doing well, remember I love you! I'll talk to y'all next week! Remember to pray and read your scriptures!

Love,

Elder Gailey

T-102 Days

Dear Family,

Well it's almost time!! I'm going to be talking to you in just a minute but hey I thought I would get my mail started now. First, HAPPYMOTHERS DAY MOM! I hope you enjoyed your gift this year! You probably won't get to wear it too often but I thought it would be cool! :) so this past week was lots of fun, we didn't teach as many lessons as we did the week before but we definitely taught as much as possible. It was really good. We only have w baptismal dates at this point because we had to drop one and are trying to move it to another day but he hasn't decided yet. He has a really busy work schedule so it's really difficult for him to come to church. He wants to come but he can't most Sunday's so it's a little difficult to get him baptized at the moment. But the other two are doing wonderful.


So we have an investigator here right now that is really really good. His name is Kazehiro. I think I mentioned it last week but he has a baptismal date and it just jumped up 2 weeks early so he'll be getting baptized on Saturday. How crazy is that? I've only known the guy for about 3 weeks! Crazy stuff! So we taught him the word of wisdom this past Wednesday and he immediately committed to it. Before we even asked him to follow it he said I'll throw away all my coffee and tea when I get home. And sure enough, he did. Hasn't touched it since. Then he was interviewed last Saturday and passed, now since he's been to prison (he stole some food from a store) he just has to pass a talk with president Wada and he should be good. His only struggle is remembering what each commandment means he just can't remember which commandment is the word of wisdom or which is the law of chastity but he knows what they are and follows them. So that's what is important. I'm super excited.

Well now the rest of this is happening since I talked to you all! It was awesome to get to see you all and to talk with you. Sorry if I was a little bit weird! Going home will be exciting but I'm a bit scared lol. Again, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I'm glad you got the kimono all figured out, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to top that one next year! We'll see! It's way stressful to think about returning, but thanks for all helping me out. I’m excited to see you all. I shared most of the rest of the things in the call basically so I'll have lots more to tell you next week, but I really hope you all know that I love you and I'm so excited to see you on August 19th! I'll be back from the future that day! Have a great week! Remember to study and pray!! Love you!


Love,
Elder Gailey

Zone Blitz

Elder Gailey's View from the Apartment

Golden Week Festival

Elder Gailey's Mother's Day Call

よよよ！！！

Dear Family,

Well another week in the land of "up big hill" and I can feel it right in the thighs. They call this stake Yokohama. And the missionaries there all have Yokohama thunder thighs. Especially the ones that die (end their mission) here. It's looking like I will probably end my mission here, so that's a plus. If my legs are jacked then I don't have to do as much work when I get back. I've got some work to do on everything else, but hey the thunder thighs are real. Anyways we had a great week with lots of events and lessons. Lots of hills and lots of miracles here so I'm looking forward to more time here.

So first big news, we have 2 baptismal dates here in our companionship with more to come. One is Kazehiro San. He came to church last Sunday and is coming this next Sunday, and if he feels like he should he'll be baptized next week or on the 28th he has 2 choices. He's doing great. We took him to a ward hike this last week even though he's 70 ish. And he hiked like a boss. we were on some slippery muddy steep trails that we had to help him up and down but other than that he just went all in throwing his feet forward with 100% confidence! It was awesome! Also we have Aoyama. He is going to be baptized on the 21st if he can get to church and get work off. He still hasn't come so that's a bit of a worry. But it'll be alright I'm sure. We have another guy who will be ready soon for a baptismal date named Iwakabe. He is way cool and is the first person I've really been able to talk about cars with since my 3rd transfer. He is way into cars and has 2 full power go karts in his back room. He used to race a 1969 Camaro. How cool is that? And he loves to learn about the gospel and is accepting it really well. So we're excited.

A quick miracle we had this week was with Kazehiro on the hike. we forgot about lunch so we didn't tell him to bring one and didn't bring one ourselves so we all planned on not eating, so while everyone else was we just drank some soda. But then a member had some extra and gave it to him and us and we all ate together. At first we thought it was just average to him but when we called him that night thanking him for coming and praying with him he thanked Heavenly Father so much for today's experience and for the member sharing their food. It was way crazy. And he also said how he intends on going to church every single week from here on out. So it turned out to be a huge miracle that we forgot about lunch. Who knew? God works in mysterious ways.

So yeah, other than the hills and everything we have been dendoing as much as possible. We even got to serve a member by basically redoing her backyard for her! That was cool although my left leg got eaten by spiders as I was cleaning a ditch. (They are healing now) it was awesome. I got to use my service gloves for the first time on my mission! It was great. Other than that, I don't really have too much to report, we had stake conference and I got to see a lot of YAMATE members and even a recent convert that Elder Spackman and I found and that he baptized. So that was awesome. I would say overall just a really good week. Now we're into short sleeve season so I'll probably get rid of a lot of old nasty long sleeves and lighten the bags a bit! I hope grandma’s house is alright and that the trees and everything aren't too bad! It looks like that storm was crazy! It's been very similar to last time I was a district leader but this time I've gotten a lot better at training and assigning trainings to the district so that's going well and better than last time. I'm really excited to see you all, hopefully I'll be able to see both nephews as well! Everyone be ready at 5:30 Seattle time!! Woo! If there are changes I'll let you know but it should be that time so don't worry! I love you all and can't wait to see you! Love you!
 
Elder Gailey

P.S. Short sleeves... They are the best.

Recent Convert 

Elder Gailey and his friend Suzuki

Ward hike

 

Jellyfish

 

 

Park where Elder Gailey hurt his feet

 

Transfer 14/16 run to the hills!

Dear Family,

Hello everybody!! This is the first email from the area literally named "up big hill" and boy oh boy it's true. One of our investigators lives at the top of the hill that we live on and well it's so steep and large that you can't lean forward far enough to keep your bike going up it so we can't even ride up. But even though it's only been 4 or five days it's been lots of fun. My new companion is Elder Hall, and he's from everywhere, he's never really lived in the same place for more than a year, they just moved a lot. He's been to some places like American fork, Payson, Grand Junction, and all over. He's pretty cool, likes games a lot so we do a lot of talking about games and movies. But he's a hard worker and it's going to be lots of fun follow up training him.

So my companion and the elder that was here before me worked really hard this last couple weeks and stacked the area with lots of new investigators. So once I came in I assumed the responsibility of starting to teach them and invite them to be baptized as soon as I can, and this week we invited 2 people. And both accepted. Ones name is Aoyama San and bought a Book of Mormon more thinking it was a good novel than anything, back in the days where they had to sell them. So we met him and talked about the benefits of baptism and he was really excited to be able to receive it. Then on Sunday our buddy Kazehiro San was willing to come to church, so he came to the church the first time and went to sit in the congregation before we even saw him so he's doing real good. Then that night we taught him a lesson and we drew lots of pictures and drew on his desires to be happy and feel peace to invite him to be baptized, and he blew our minds by saying that there are some people that might tempt him to do evil but he wants with all his heart to be able to say no and follow God. And he loved church so he's going to be coming every week now. Woo! It was a party!

Then today we stopped down in a place called Kamakura and saw a giant Buddha statue so I'll send those pictures, and I also bought some real ninja stars! How cool is that!? Awesome! Also back in Odawara, last week I got a chance to do some pottery with Kato Kyoudai. He really was upset that we hadn't been able to do it with him yet so we made some time and we made some pottery in the pottery corner of his house. It was pretty difficult to leave Odawara. The members, specifically the recent converts were really sad to see me go. Takeuchi cried like 3 days before I was even leaving. And Kato Kyoudai just kept saying, I wish we could do this... And I wish we could do that... It was pretty sad. But on a rainy Thursday we headed out. I'm way tired and busy already this transfer so I think it's going to be good. Elder Hall is pretty excited for everything to come so I am as well! It's been really good.

I'm glad y'all are working hard and I look forward to hearing all about everyone's adventures. Being a district leader again is fun but busy so I'm looking forward to each week. The district is stacked and full of great missionaries so this transfer we'll be seeing some good things I’m sure! Keep looking out for crazy miracles! And random stories about Pharisee's. I met another this week but in Japanese, he came in to the church and searched for us. Eventually finding and interrogating us, but for lack of a better term, we won the battle. Through the spirit and testimony we were not confounded and the man was not able to cross us in our words. The lord really does stand at our back and hold us up. He gives us just what we need, when we need it, and he does it with love. Love you guys! Go get em!

Elder Gailey

Leaving Odawara

Big Buddah