Elder Gailey is home!!!

Elder Gailey has returned home and we are so very thankful for his service.  We have missed him, but know that he served righteously and that he will be blessed for all he has done in the service of the Lord.

 

His homecoming pictures

 

A quick trip to Mt. Rainier

Seeing Kaiden and Oliver (for the first time)

Elder Gailey - Last email signed Elder......

Hey hey hey!


Well I only have 4 more days... never thought I'd be able to say that. Crazy stuff! I'll be honest, I’m not really sure what to even put in this email! I'm really excited to see you all, giving my final talk at church on Sunday in Japanese was difficult. I felt like i would still be coming back the next week for Sacrament meeting anyway so it didn’t really feel like the end. However, the ward was great and did so much for Sister Bybee and I as we leave, they all individually and as families said thank you and goodbye, and they are all so grateful for the work that we put in at the end of our missions. In the last 3 transfers there have been 5 baptisms in the Kamiooka ward, and they really appreciate it. So yeah this last week has been pretty good!


Dad said it correctly when he said that it was our busy week. We were ridiculously busy all week. The temple went really well this last week, the temple presidency asked everyone over transfer 9 to do it in Japanese from here on out so I did it in Japanese again and I learned some really cool things. It’s hard to explain because its mostly just translation things that stuck out to me that time but it was really good to do it in Japanese again. Who knows if I'll ever get to do it in Japanese again you know? So that was on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday we spent the whole day on splits. We had one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday so we were moving around a lot and not spending a lot of time in our own area. There were lots of miracles during that but the biggest one was that I was finally able to find Kazuhiro Kyoudai! He is the one that Elder Hall and I baptized in my first transfer in Kamiooka, with the moustache. He got really sick and fell out of contact with the missionaries and was unable to go to church since he was confirmed, but this time I found his house and he wasn't in a mini-coma, so we met with him and he came to church on Sunday with us on the bus! He's back!! So that was a huge miracle, I also had my returning interview with President Warnick, and it went really well, he's an awesome person and gave me all kinds of good advice. It was weird doing the interview though because basically for the first time in 2 years I was encouraged to think and talk about what will happen after the mission. That was for sure a strange feeling. We had the last of the 3 baptisms in a row this Saturday with Elder Hall's companionship baptizing their Chinese investigator Sun San.


Last kind of just to talk about my last Sunday in Japan. It was such a bitter-sweet day. It was awesome because when I was sitting out in the congregation i was in a row with 3 recent converts and 2 missionaries. All but 1 of the recent converts was at church this last week and the other one was at a different ward, so it was a really cool way to go. Also after sacrament meeting we were up in Gospel Principles class and all 5 of them were just banding together talking about what they know and don’t know and helping each other figure it out. There were 5 people, all with a very basic knowledge of the Gospel, grabbing on to the Iron Rod and pressing towards the tree of life together. Boy, it was nice to see!


Also, the Cunningham's came and visited!! I forgot to take a picture with them but it was great! They were so nice and it was nice to see a familiar face before I leave, I even got to talk to Andrew! However, America is pretty intense compared to here! It’s going to be culture shock times 1000000. So please help!


Dad, no unfortunately I don't get to keep my iPad as it is region locked for Japan. Also about the whole open house thing, if you think it would be good I'm all for it, why not, right? Do I have to wear a suit?... I still don’t like suits...


Dad, here is my last week plan:

Tuesday I ship my bags to the Narita Airport through a company called ABC Mart then once I arrive at the airport about 4 hours early on Friday I will go to the ABC Mart desk and pick them up, then I will take them into the airport and check them into my flight and all the way to Seattle. I will arrive at the mission home on Thursday afternoon, have some returning checks, potentially one more interview, and a study session with the mission president and his wife most likely about marriage. Then the next day we go out and dendo one last time before getting on the bus and heading to the airport. Then just like it says in the plans, I should be there right around 9:00 am walking out of the gate to see you!


Hopefully that was good enough summary! I'm excited to see you all but terrified to leave Japan. It definitely seems like I will still be attending the Kamiooka Ward next Sunday, and that the end is just a dream. I'm sure taking off my tag at the end is going to be one of the most difficult things that I have had to do in a long time, and I'm not looking forward to it but it will be great to see you all. I love you all so much, and I'll see you soon! Have a great, safe, prayer filled week!


Elder Gailey

From Kim Cunningham:

It was our pleasure! I'm so glad it worked out :) He's such a great young man! Yeah, I think it was kind of a culture shock to be on base! Little America! So so different than Japan!!! He was funny! He almost forgot what it was like to ride in a car :) He thought how weird it was to wear a seatbelt. It's those little things that we take for granted every day! So cute :) Yeah, it was really good timing that Andrew called just as we sat down to eat ;) Andrew is excited for him to get to BYU! It will be so fun!!! Big hugs guys!

Elder Gailey's last Sunday

Elder Gailey finding Kazuhiro

Hiro came to visit, Sister Bybee and Elder Gailey

Kim and Jim Cunningham brought surprises for

Elder Gailey and Elder Dunn and took them out to eat.

Festival

Lucky number 10?

Dear Family,

Well it's pretty crazy but this is the first email I have written on my iPad since last temple Pday and it will probably be the last one I write on it before I'm home. It's weird to think that I'll see you all next week. Today is my 10 day mark. It's just so crazy! Alright enough of that, SATO GOT BAPTIZED! It was such a good service. The whole Ward didn't come but all of the people that he knows even a little bit came so it turned out to be perfect. I was able to baptize him in one go, he got water in his nose because he let go underwater but nothing came up and he is now confirmed and fully a member. His testimony was awesome and you could see the shock on some of the members who doubted him' faces. They were freaking out. It was a great way to go out for me. Now we are going to give him a haircut today and then I have returning interviews this Friday followed by zone meeting next week then I'll be sleeping on the roof of the church with Poff and going back to America.

So basically this week was all baptism preparation, us teaching Sato and calling members, he got his interview right after English class on Wednesday and it was great. Yesterday since it wasn't Pday we held a stake blitz, so 18 companionships of missionaries all met inside of Yokohama Station then went out and Dendo'd together spreading the message of the first vision to as many people as possible for 3 hours. It was really good except a few of the sisters were fighting and causing lots of drama, I now understand what that green peace sister and drill Sargent sister that drove dad crazy on his mission were like. It's ridiculous. But it was successful, my companionship found them 2 new pi's so it was a productive time in a less productive spot. It was good to see.


We also has SPM with the stake this last Tuesday and it went really well the stake instead of placing the blame on us was looking at what they haven't been doing well enough and it became a really productive meeting. Also this week we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and I actually bore my testimony to everyone at the end. I've gotten so used to sharing my testimony on the street and stuff that usually when it's free for anyone to share in like a meeting setting and things I don't usually feel like I should. But this time the spirit told me to so I bore my testimony and it was a really good experience. I shared some of the things that Garrett told me before my mission and talked about prayer. It was good. Then this last Sunday (mom will probably be proud of this one) I was asked to play the piano for sacrament meeting. So I practiced a little bit then I played the organ in front of the whole Ward (60+ members) and it went really well. It's been really cool to have opportunities to play in sacrament meeting and at baptisms and things like that. It's an awesome way to serve others.


Other than that when we had time we Dendo'd, and the rest of the time was random meetings and things like that. So that is my update! Next week will be my last email so I'm excited to hit that mark! Dad asked me if there is anyone else close to baptism and unfortunately Sato was the only really progressing investigator we had. I'm trying to get as many people to my last sacrament meeting as possible, and all the returning missionaries in my zone are (we want to set a record) so I'll let you know next week! I'm excited for Jacob to come here, he'll like it. Also moms gun looks sick! She's awesome! I'm fine being dads companion until 6:00! It will be obnoxious in church clothes but not that much different I guess. Anyways I guess I'll see you all next week though! Mom, should I exchange any Japanese money I have here or wait til America? Also, can I request a certain food for Friday? :) like waffles and chicken rolls? Thanks mom! I love you! Alright I hope everyone has an awesome week and I'll see you in 10 days! Pray hard!

Michael

Sato's Baptism

Sato's Haircut

Buying a ticket for the bullet train

 The ticket

The Bullet Train

 

 

 

 A Trip to Odawara

 

The Tokyo Temple

Yakiniku!

Zone Blitz

Sato Haircut

Bullet Train Videos

Bullet Train!! 新幹線

Dear Family,

Well I'm starting to run out of things to write in the emails! I'll be seeing you so soon that I almost want to wait to tell you everything until then, however, I will ganbaru and throw it all down on the email! This week has been good, especially the end of it. The middle was a good bit stressful but the end was solid, also stressful but had more results. Long story that I’ll add later is that Sato San is still intending on receiving baptism on Saturday, I'm still working as hard as I can, and from here out I'll be busy out of my brains!

Alright so here is the report on Sato. So this week for a large portion of the week we thought that he was just being a butt. However, we learned later on that he wasn’t. The reason we thought so was because he skipped out on 4 lessons this week. He always comes and when he doesn't its usually bad. We were trying to get him ready for a baptismal interview on Saturday but absolutely could not do that, especially since he didn’t come to our 2 lesson appointments on that Saturday. So here are the reasons he skipped out. Tuesday and Wednesday he was starting his new job, got sick and had to train 3 new people at work so he was busy and stressed out of his mind. We found that out and gave him a priesthood blessing on Wednesday night after English Class. Then after he came to our ping pong night on Thursday he got a call from his mother saying that his father had just died. So on Friday morning he peaced out on the bullet train to get down to Kyoto for his father’s funeral. Then he got back on Sunday morning and came to church right after sacrament meeting ended. So now we are praying that this week for him to receive Baptism that nothing crazy happens and he can still get all of it done. It was awesome though, he isn’t a rich man, but when i taught him about the law of tithing this week which i thought was going to be his hardest commandment, he willingly accepted it saying what is 10% compared to what the lord gives me? Of course i will do it. So that was a wonderfully testimony to me about faith and what happens when we have it. Sato has so much faith it’s incredible.

As far as my busy schedule goes... oh if you only could see my calendar in my ipad. There isn’t a day without something that will take lots of time, for example tomorrow night we have a big stake meeting, then Thursday we have a meeting at the mission home all day then Sato and his baptism and all the while next week i have to start packing and getting everything ready to hand off to elder Dunn because soon he will be a solo zone leader for a week since we are leaving a week early to make it back for school. It’s going to be a super super busy end to my mission but what better way to peace out then that?? 

In other news from the area this last week Sister Bybee and Sister Kawamitsu had a baptism. Their Russian investigator Daria got baptized. She doesn’t speak any Japanese and very little English so it was a miracle that she was able to learn the gospel first through google translate and then through Russian speaking members on Skype. It was awesome, Elder Dunn baptized her in Russian and we sang a song in Russian. Russian is hard! Her husband even came to the confirmation and is now almost one of our investigators. Also unfortunately the double baptism isn’t going to be happening, it will just be Sato this week however she will still be getting baptized. 

I think that is most of the update for the week, Elder Dunn and I will be taking the bullet train (shinkansen) back to Odawara to meet up with my recent converts before i leave in a few weeks so it’s going to be an expensive way fun pday today. I'll make sure I send lots of pictures your way this next pday, and then the next one will be my last! Oh actually next pday is temple pday so it will be probably a slightly lame email. 

In response to Dads Japanese food experience, if you thought that was good sukiyaki just wait until you eat it in Japan! It’s so good! I am going to miss Japanese food really badly. I will probably be able to make it for us quite often though. It’s not hard for the most part and I’ve gotten really good at it. Yeah I like my new president, there hasn't really been much to say because there generally hasn’t been a ton of interaction at this point. We have MLC with him but I haven’t really had any one on one time. 

All of the apartment check in and stuff sounds just fine to me! I'm not sure what I want to do in Utah and stuff, I would definitely like to see Nathan while there, I talked to him today and it seems like we can do that. Other than that I would love to have brother Crabtree and Swanson at the homecoming talk if thats possible. I'll invite the ozone and other than that I’m probably fine. Thank you so much though!

I love all of you guys, and I hope you all have a great week! Get out there and see miracles!! 

Elder Gailey

Kamakura

Elder Gailey with Kato Kyoudai and Chiba Kyoudai

Elder Gailey with Kato Kyoudai

Daria's Baptism

Elder Dunn and Elder Gailey with Chopsticks

Elder Gailey with Sunflowers

Sparkle Dreams

Sparkle Dreams

Cicadas

Kato trying to say Takeuchi