Tokyo Japan Week 9

Crazy pretty sunset on Omoigawa bridge!

Konbanwa! Sorry it took me a while to write this week, Elder Howard and I lost our phone, so we just barely got back from finding it! Left it on a bus, etc. Pretty crazy! But onto the awesomeness of this week! First off to answer some of Mamma's questions, thank you so much for the card!! I'll be taking out my money to finally pay for the bike, and as well today I used some money to buy some great clothes that were really inexpensive! So I don't know if you can notice from the pictures, but I have lost some weight! Haha, about 10 pounds or so, and my slacks are HUGE now! So I bought a couple new pairs of dress pants that fit very nicely, and one of them is khaki! I was pretty stoked. I as well bought two of those sock type ties for 2 dollars! They're allowed in this mission so I was way happy to get them pretty cheap! One of them is San Jose Sharks colors, so I'm pumped! 

 

This week was really so amazing! To start off, we have two new baptisimal dates!!! Shun and Okenchu commited to be baptized on the 27th of this month, so we are now going crazy hardcore to prepare them for that day. Both of them have such amazing faith, and have truly been so prepared. I don't know if I've mentioned a whole lot about Okenchu, but he is an investigator that I found a couple weeks ago, and yesterday he came to church the second time! It was so cool, he bought a suit specifically for church, and he totally rocked it yesterday. He loves the Oyama ward, and they really love him. During church we had an awesome lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation, and afterwards we asked him if he believed in these things we have been teaching him, and he said yes! We went for the date and he said yes! So stoked for him. He's about 20 years old and from China, and he just rocks, haha. It was really so cool during the lesson, I was teaching about the Spirit world and how we can see our family members, and I started talking about Riley. I mentioned how even though he passed away so young, I knew that I would see him again, and so would his family. As I was testifying I could feel the Spirit so strong in my heart, and I really felt as though Riley was doing his own missionary work from the other side. Such a cool experience, and as well really built up my testimony. But yeah! We're shooting for two baptisms on the 27th, so please keep those amazing prayers coming! If you want to as well, for sure put Shun and Okenchu on the prayer roll! That would be so amazing.

Our recent convert Shohei (Aka the King of Pop) had the new Jack Johnson album at his house! I had to take to take a pic with it.

Well, onto explaining the title of my email... This week I was given a guitar! It's a beautiful sunburst acoustic Morris guitar, and it was given to me by one of my Eikaiwa (English Class) students! He's a really funny man named Oki, and he is a MAJOR Beatles fan. He and I hit it off really well, and he always starts singing Hey Jude when he sees me! Pretty awesome. Only downside is his mind has recently begun slipping, and his grasp on reality is pretty slim. He's a really great though, and I know he can feel the Lord's love for him inside the church building. But the other day he came to English class and gave me this guitar! He told me he recently broke his hand and that he can't use it anymore, and he wants someone to take care of it, and he knew I played guitar. I called President Budge and he said it was totally fine as long as I only used it for missionary work, and I told him I would! I know that this incredible miracle really has come from the Lord, and I'm so thankful for that. This great guitar will always be a reminder of my mission, and I'm so thankful for this awesome keepsake. I had a super missionary moment as I brought the guitar back to our apartment.

 

I started cleaning it, as it was out of tune, convered in dust and scratches. I started polishing it and tuning it, and in a matter of minutes the guitar was at it's total best, and had such a gorgeous sound. I was sitting there, and I realized how much we are all like this guitar. We all face challenges in life, and sometimes we put our trust in the wrong hands. We get scratched, we kind of go out of tune, and our true potential gathers some dust. However, when we're in the hands of someone who truly cares for us, we can really be made clean. We can be dusted, retuned, and reach our full potential. We may still have those scratches, but they don't have to effect our true sound. In the hands of the Savior, we can find our full true sound, and reach our full potential.

 

I'm so thakful to be a missionary! I'm so stoked to watch conference this coming weekend, because I know it will be so awesome! Thank you so much for all you do, I love you all so much! Some days I really do miss you all like crazy, but I know this is where the Lord wants me. He's blessed me so much as a missionary, and I'm so glad everyday that I decided to serve a mission! There's been some more talks of me training next transfer so please pray that I'll be a good trainer! Haha, Tyler and Dad, if you have any tips, please let me know! I love you all! So stoked to talk to you in about two months! It'll be so great. :) Have a great week!! BTW, I'm slowly losing my English pronunciation! Yesterday I said, "Bress" meaning bless, and "Engrish" meaning English. SCARY!

 

Love,

Elder Justesen