Tokyo Japan Week 78

Hello Amazing Family! Wow, February is awesome!

Hey everyone! It's been another seriously awesome week here in Urayasu, and it's been so cool to read your emails and catch up on the amazing things happening.

First off... Just gotta say CONGRATULATIONS TYLER!! I'm so stoked for you! After your email you sent last week, I was getting excited for this Monday to see what was going to happen, and I just gotta say, you are awesome! I'm super happy for you, and moreover I'm so so thankful for the kindness you are sharing with me by waiting until I return from my mission! That really means so much to me, and I'm so thankful that I'll get to join you guys in the temple. :) Such an awesome thing, and I'm so excited for it! Haha, just gotta make sure to keep focused, but I'm really super pumped for that great day. Thanks so much for all you do man, and just being an awesome example of the priesthood holder I hope to be like one day. So many times in my mission I try to imagine what you must have done, and I strive really to be a missionary like you. I know that you really blessed and changed so many lives in Brazil, and I hope to be like you! Thanks man, much love.

But this week was pretty awesome! Our great 17 year old Tsukushi is looking super great! He has a way big desire to be baptized, but his parents are pretty against him receiving it until he is 20, so he has a date set for two years from now, but he's really loving the church so much. He basically is a member already, and he's already starting to join in on our lessons with our other investigators, and today he invited one of our investigators to church! He's a really awesome example to me, and I'm super thankful to be his buddy. We're praying really hard that we will be able to see a huge miracle with his parents giving him that permission, and he just recently passed his college entrance exam, so their hearts may be getting ready to let him live a life more fully in the Gospel! He's such an awesome kid, and we've become really close over the past couple of months. As well the Mikami kids are doing pretty great, they love Elder Templin! Elder Templin is actually a pretty amazing Japanese anime artist, and the little kids instantly asked him to draw a bunch of things for them, and he did! Elder Templin is such a great example of love and humility, and it was so cool to see the kids light up around him. We're still just working so hard to find a way to help the parents grant that permission to the children. Yuriya, the oldest girl at age 9 is the closest, and she has such strong desire to be baptized. Heavenly Father is definitely helping me understand the principle of patience, and I'm really striving to see if there's anything we can do to help these amazing kids. Excited to keep working hard with faith! As well this week Heavenly Father blessed us with so many miracles with less active members here in the Urayasu ward.

First is a way cool story! So when I was serving in Urawa there was a seriously awesome sister named Sister Suita! She was such an awesome example of charity in our district, and when I transferred to Urayasu she let me know that her brother actually lived in our ward, but had been less active for quite a few years. He's about Tyler's age, and just seemed like such a cool guy! All last transfer we worked so hard to contact him, but always no luck... But then Elder Templin with his miracle faith came! We went by to just see if he was home, and we rang, and no answer. I felt pretty bummed, so I decided to knock one more time and yell, "Konnichiwa!" All of a sudden the door busts open and he came out! We had a really awesome talk about his sister and his whole family, and just how much the gospel has blessed his family. He still had such a strong testimony, just coming on Sunday was hard because of work. After talking about the gospel more, he said, "you know, I've been really thinking lately how much I want to come back to church. I'm thankful you guys came by today." So we're going back on Friday to read the Book of Mormon together, and at the end he prayed! He hadn't prayed in a way long time he said, and it was just such a cool miracle. That night I mailed Sister Suita, and she said she's been praying since she was in middle school that he'd have a chance to come back to church, and she was so excited to hear that he's gonna meet with us. So cool!

Then just last night we had an amazing miracle with Brother Erick! Erick has been a less active member for many years, and is from the Philippines. His best friends Rico and Leni actually referred him, and we meet with him about every Sunday. Last night we had an amazing testimony meeting, and Leni and Rico just bore such powerful testimonies about the gospel, and as we testified of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, Erick started to cry. He really felt the spirit so strongly, and he committed to pray personally to Heavenly Father to know if Joseph Smith truly was a prophet. It just made me feel so thankful to be serving as a missionary here in Tokyo Japan, and to see so many amazing things. I love this gospel so much, and I'm so thankful for the next 4 months! I'm really so excited to keep working, keep testifying, and keep striving to be more of the person the Lord needs me to be. I know this gospel is true, and truly is a gospel that teaches us that we can truly change, and become more the sons and daughters that the lord desires us to be. Although we all may make mistakes, and even at times wander from the path, we can always return, and always receive another chance. I'm thankful for the Book of Mormon which has taught me this truth through the stories like Enos, Alma the younger, the sons of Mosiah, and many others. The gospel is so awesome. I'm so thankful for this chance to be serving, and way excited for the times ahead! Thank you you guys so much for everything you constantly do for me, and always the abundance of love I feel every week I read through your emails. Thanks so much, have an amazing week! CONGRATULATIONS TYLER!!

Love,
Elder Justesen