Tokyo Japan Week 44

Hello awesome family! It's been another really great week here in Tsukuba, and I'm so thankful to be a missionary this week! As well... Happy Father's Day in the great state of California!!! Sounds like you guys are having a really great time in Utah, but I just wanted to tell Dad happy Father's Day! During church yesterday the primary children sang some of those classic primary Father's Day songs, and it really made me feel so thankful to have been blessed with such an amazing father. Thanks so much for everything you've done for me, and for always being such an amazing example in my life. You've really blessed my life, and really shaped so much of who I am everyday, and I'm so thankful for all those times you've made that time to be with me, and just spend some time. There really is so much power in just making some time for someone just to let them know you love and care for them, and I'll always remember that about Dad. I can't count how many times he would finish a phone call, and I'd hear, "Dev! Let's go throw the ball!" Or go grab some Arby's, haha. Although it was just little moments here in there, they really blessed my life so much, and Dad really is that amazing example of someone who will always make time for you. Love you so much Pops, and I'm so thankful to have an amazing Father like you. You've set that example of the priesthood bearer I hope to be like, and especially the type of father I know I want to become. Thanks so much Pops, love you a ton. :) 

This week was pretty great! A couple struggles, but that's missionary life. I'm really so thankful for some of those tougher times that really bring us to the depths of humility, and give us that chance to more fully rely on the Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful to be here in Tokyo Japan, and I'm so thankful for the people the Lord has blessed me with being able to teach at this time in my life. I love this Gospel, and I know that it is the true and everlasting Gospel on the earth, and I'm so thankful to have had this chance the past year to share this good news with all of those around me. At mission leadership council we discussed the need to have more focus on less active work, and my testimony has been so strengthened in that importance. Just as we rejoice and feel that great excitement over someone new who enters the Gospel, it's so important that we never forget about those that may have wavered on the path a bit. it's been so cool this past week to have that stronger focus on less active, and I'm so thankful for this chance to help the great people here in the Tsukuba area. I love being a missionary with all my heart, and I'm so thankful for all of the blessings The Lord has given me here in Japan.

This week was pretty great though! We're working really closely with some great people, and the Lord has really blessed us with so many wonderful people to teach here in Tsukuba. I'm really so thankful to be here for the fourth transfer, and it's been so cool to have this area feel so much like home. I'll be pretty bummed when the time comes to leave, but I feel pretty ready for that new area feel again, and that excitement in learning about the ward, people, and investigators. It's been such a blast being here, and I'm so excited to just keep going forward with faith here in the area! Tyler, I've been learning a little bit of Portuguese from my awesome companion Elder Jacox! He just arrived here from the Brazilian Branch here in Tokyo, and he's helping our investigator so much here from Mozambique. I have a question for you though! So Vundo our investigator is reading the Book of Mormon, and he's been raised in the Catholic Church his whole life, and he has really such strong faith. He believes the restoration might be true, but he's a little hesitant about receiving baptism because he was baptized when he was younger, and he's having a hard time realizing that he needs that baptism from the proper authority and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Serving in Japan, we don't have this problem too often because we're not in a Christian country, but I know you probably has this situation many times in Brazil, and I was hoping for some advice! What do you think we should teach and explain to help him see and feel that he needs to receive baptism from the proper authority? Thanks so much, voce e muito bom! Eu nao falo Portuguese mais tranquilo. Haha, thanks so much man, te amo!

But all together it was such an awesome week, and I'm so excited to go forward with this next week, and just keep making the most of every day here as a missionary. Elder Jacox is such an awesome companion, and he's brought so much of that fun loving attitude back in my missionary life, and I'm so excited to work hard with him! Also, Mom I received that AWESOME package! Thank you so much! I really love the shorts, CD, shirt, and especially the super stylin' neck tie! I really love them so much, thank you so much! I'm so excited for the next package, and again thank you so much for sending so many packages! It really brought me so much happiness to feel of that love from home, and it keeps me going with all I have. I love this Gospel so much, and I'm so thankful for the fact that through the Gospel we can have that strong family faith. It's blessed my life so much, and I'm so thankful for such an awesome family. :) also! So funny crazy story, I had a massive bug get stuck in my ear this week! Sorry no pictures because he went in too far, but I had to wash him out, and it was a way intense evening! Nothing like feeling a bug buzz around in your head. ;) it was way funny to call the mission doctor, and he thought it was pretty funny, and we made some great jokes about it! Haha, we concluded we baptized the bug in my ear, and it's all good now, haha. Mission life right! Also, this week I reached 71 Kilos, which apparently is about 156 pounds, which is the lightest I've been since 15! It's been so awesome losing some of that heavy weight, and now I'm actually a Japanese medium/large. Which is way small!


All in all, I'm just really thankful for all of the blessings The Lord has given me in this short time of being a missionary. It's really changed my life so much, and made me into someone I never thought I could be. It's changed my way of seeing things, and it's helped me so much to see that we are all brothers and sisters here on this earth, and it's helped me to see the incredible potential of all those around us. I read the Elder Ballard CES devotional from May, and it was so awesome hearing his advice as we keep going forward into this time of so many resources to share the Gospel. It's been so cool to be using Facebook as a tool to help the gospel go forward, and we saw some really amazing miracles this week with Facebook! I'm so excited to go forward with faith, and give this work my all! I love you all so much, and I'm so thankful for all of the kindness and love you always share with me. Thanks so much, and please know I pray for you all everyday, and please know I'm so thankful for all you do for me. :) have an awesome week, the gospel is true, the book is blue, and God loves you!!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 43

Hello amazing family! It's been another great week here in Tsukuba, and it's exciting that we're having a baptism this week! There is a really amazing man named Orlando who the other elders have been teaching, and he's finally getting baptized this week! He actually has a son who is serving a mission right now down in the southern American region, and it's just an awesome miracle to see this amazing family come together in the Gospel. Way cool miracles in Tsukuba! I'm really so stoked to be here another transfer, and I know there are some seriously great miracles in store as we keep going. Tsukuba is an area full of so many amazing miracles, and we're so excited to go forward with faith. It's gonna be an awesome transfer!

So my companion is named Elder Jacox, from Kaysville Utah! Also, he and I were in the MTC at the same time, and it's been awesome reminiscing about the MTC and just some of those awesome moments of coming to Japan on the same plane and stuff. It was actually funny because transfer day was our year mark! So sadly I didn't do too much for the year mark, but everyone transferred safely, and it was a great day! Rainy season has officially started in Japan, and it's been raining for the past few days, but it's been seriously so pretty! As well we saw some awesome rain miracles with Dhani coming back to church on Sunday! It was cool because after we had those big 4 lessons, he felt like he really wanted to take a break from the lessons, but now he's coming back! Way cool miracle, and I really feel like the Lord has kept me here in Tsukuba for 4 transfers for Dhani, and I'm really praying so hard to be worthy of this kind of miracle. It would mean so much to me to help him make that decision to receive baptism and make those promises with Heavenly Father before heading onto another area. Dhani really is such an awesome person, and I've felt really so blessed to be teaching him, and to be his friend. He's really blessed my life so much, and I'm way thankful for him!

As well Vundo is looking so awesome! He's our great friend from Mozambique, and now that Elder Jacox is here, he's looking great! The main language in Mozambique is Portuguese, and Elder Jacox just got here from the Portuguese branch so he and Vundo hit it off so fast! Vundo is such an awesome guy, with so much strong faith, so we're really so excited to go forward with him, and really help him learn more about this Gospel. I feel really so blessed to have such awesome people to teach here in Tsukuba, and it's been so cool teaching people from all over! It's really been such an awesome builder of my testimony that Heavenly Father truly loves all of His children so much, and really so strongly desires for them to receive this amazing Gospel. I love being a missionary so much, and I'm so thankful to be here sharing this great message of the Gospel.

As well I just wanted to say happy birthday to the most awesome brother and sister ever!!! I hope you guys had such an awesome birthday, and please know I was thinking so much about you, and sang happy birthday to you! Haha, please know I love you guys so much, and I'm so thankful for all you guys do for me. :) Your prayers always keep me going, and I'm so excited to go forward with faith! Some days are pretty tiring, but your prayers keep my faith high, and I'm so thankful for all you do for me!

All in all it was such an awesome week, and I'm way excited to keep moving forward! There are still so many weaknesses I'm working on everyday, but I'm so thankful to the atonement of Jesus Christ that helps me to keep moving forward, keep changing, and keep improving everyday. Some days as a missionary can be pretty tiring, but I'm so thankful for this incredible time of being a missionary, and I wouldn't change this time for anything! I love being a missionary with all my heart, and I'm so thankful for all of love from you guys! Please know I love you so much, and am always praying for you! I'm so thankful for the wonderful blessings Heavenly Father has been blessing us with, and I know that these miracles rely so much on our faith and desire to follow His teachings. :) Love you guys so much, have an awesome week!!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 42

Hello most awesome and amazing family in the world!!! Okay... So this email is going to be pretty short, and I'm so sorry! But! I'm staying in Tsukuba another transfer as Zone Leader, and I'm training a new zone leader! I'm really so stoked for this opportunity to serve again as a zone leader. It's gonna be gnarly. So right now we are in the midst of transfer planning, and we had a zone p day today where we went to the world's largest Buddha statue in the world! Look up DaiButsu in Ushiku City. Pretty awesome, I'll send some pictures!

All and all doing pretty great, but feeling a little sick today. The heat has been pretty gnarly here recently, but it's all good, and I'm getting a sweet tan again! So excited to be a missionary, and I can't believe it's been one year now!! I feel like yesterday I was being dropped off at the MTC, but boom! Here we are one year later. I love this gospel so much, and I'm so thankful to have such an amazing family! Thank you so much for all you do, and please know I appreciate every letter. Your encouraging words really push me on on those rough days, and I'm so thankful to have been blessed with such an amazing family. :)

Also Whittenshire HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I'll try to send something to ya if I can, and I'll be shooting you and Tyler two awesome personal letters next week! Please know I love you so much, and you're my hero! Sounds and looks like Iceland was amazing! Keep going for those dreams, and know that Heavenly Father is so eager to bless you as you keep his commandments. He loves you a lot!

But anyways, have an amazing week!!! I love you guys so much, and I'm so excited for the next package coming soon! Promise I'll be writing more next week, again so sorry! Also! Hope it's okay if I pick up a couple of white shirts, my shirts from this winter and last summer are pretty thrashed... Sorry! Won't spend too much though. :) Have an awesome week, I love and am praying for you always!

Love,
Elder Justesen (Devister McGee)

Tokyo Japan Week 41

Hello most awesome family in the world!!

It's been another really awesome week here in Tsukuba, and I'm so stoked to talk about some of the great miracles we were able to see this week. So! First off, this is a long transfer, so still no transfer calls, but next week I will find out! I'm really hoping to stay another transfer here in Tsukuba, it's really been such an amazing area, and I really love it so much. It's an area I really feel like I've grown so much in, but I'm really excited to just go forward this last of week of the transfer, and just give it all I have. We had the awesome opportunity to have Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Joseph Maynes come and tour our mission! It was so awesome to hear their love, feel of their faith and desire, and just learn so much from these great men. Sorry I didn't mention it sooner! I heard somewhere we weren't supposed to tell anybody until after the conference, but it was really so amazing! It was combined mission conference with Tokyo South and I was able to see my old MTC companion Elder Scott! It really made me so happy to see him again, and we had so much fun talking and reminiscing about the MTC. I can't believe that the year mark is coming up! Missionary life has started to become such a normal thing, but I love being a missionary with all my heart, and I'm so thankful to be in such an amazing mission. Elder Cook spoke a lot about the mission decision process when they see our pictures and gain that revelation where we should be called to serve, and it really made me feel so thankful to be a missionary here in Tokyo Japan. I love Japan and the Japanese people so much, and I'm so thankful to be here spreading this great news of the Gospel.

Also Mom! I received the first package, and I seriously love it! I wore the tie to the combined mission conference, and I absolutely love the shirt! Thanks so much for sending a piece of home to me, and please know I appreciate the time you took to make that package for me. :) You and Dad sound so busy this summer, and I'm really thankful for the time you took to make me feel that love of home. Thanks Mamma, you're awesome. :) I'm so stoked for package two!! And Alexa I'm so pumped to hear you got that job!!! I was gonna send you a personal letter saying I was praying and fasting for you, but I'm so glad you got that job! I know that the Lord loves you so much, and he's so happy to bless you at this time. Keep being awesome, and tell me about the job and what you'll be doing! Tyler it sounds like Europe was amazing man! I'm way glad you had such a great time, and especially that you weren't "Taken"! That would be crazy lame. Haha, but it sounds like a trip you'll always remember, and I'm really glad you're making some awesome memories man. Love you! And Whit, holy goodness Iceland!! All of those pictures you sent were so crazy pretty, I was so blown away. I have a new goal to go and visit Iceland someday, I'm so happy you got to go on such an incredible trip, and I know it's one you'll remember for the rest of your life. Thanks for being such an awesome example to me of going for the things you desire in life, and just for being so awesome. You're my hero Whit!

But anyways, recently I've been really thinking a lot about this time as a missionary, and really trying to follow Dad's advice and put down on paper those things that have been learned so far in this time as a missionary. It really has been such an amazing experience, and one I'm really so thankful for. Today was such an awesome p day because we were able to visit a recent converts family today, and they were so thankful to meet the missionaries, and although they aren't church members, they loved the Spirit that was able to be there in the simple message we shared about families. After that we were able to grab some dinner with Tugs and his other sumo wrestling friend named Rekishi, and they both were so excited to learn about the Book of Mormon, and learn about that eternal happiness that can be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As well this week my AWESOME friends Shohei came all the way to Tsukuba to visit me! He's such an awesome friend, and I'm really so thankful for they chance I got to meet him here as a missionary. We started talking after English Class, and he said some really nice things that really made so thankful for this opportunity, and especially to the changes it has brought to my life. Elder Sakamoto and I were riding here to the church, and I just felt such a strong thankfulness to this special time of being a missionary, and I'm so thankful for all of the miracles that Heavenly Father has blessed me with during this time as a missionary. I have a testimony that the atonement of Jesus Christ is so real, and is such an amazing gift that we have in our lives. No matter the mistake. No matter the person. No matter the situation. We can all truly change and become the person The Lord has always wanted us to become. I'm still really full of mistakes, and definitely had to do some repenting this week, but I'm so thankful for this time as a missionary, and the changes it has brought in my life. I love this Gospel with all my soul and I'm so thankful to have been blessed with such an amazing family that has taught me the importance of being a missionary since I was very little. I love you guys so much, and know I pray for you all every day by name. :) I can't believe it's just about 1 year until we're all back together again, but I'm so thankful for this time, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now. I love you guys so much, have an awesome week!!! がんばろうジャステセン家族！

Love,
Elder Justesen (DR.J)

Tokyo Japan Week 40

Hello awesome family! It's been another really awesome week here in Tsukuba, but today is another "not tons of time to write" day! Super sorry... But I just wanted to say thank you so much for making that mother days call so special! It was seriously so great hearing from all of you, even though Tyler was calling from the bathroom... Love you man. ;) haha, but I really felt such a strong feeling of thankfulness to have such an amazing family, and I just want to say I love you! I really miss you guys so much, but I'm so so so thankful to be here as a missionary, and I'm so thankful to all of the love and support you show me. Today we had the opportunity to attend the temple, and I really found myself just thinking about that incredible power within the family. I know that Heavenly Father has blessed our family so much, and I'm so thankful to have such an awesome family! 

After temple day, Elder Howard and I were able to go with the missionaries in Oyama and go grab lunch with our old investigator, Shun! Shun was the young 17 year old teenager who really loved skateboarding and music. He's recently been battling depression pretty hard because of some bullying at school, but he was so excited and beaming with such good light as he came to the temple today. It really confirmed that testimony that Heavenly Father lives and loves us so individually. Shun has been able to find that small family amongst the missionaries and this church, and it was just such an awesome opportunity to see and show some love to him today. I'm really so thankful for the people that the Lord has let me meet here in Japan. :) Shun is such an awesome kid who has blessed and changed my life a lot, and I'm really thankful that he's doing great and meeting with the missionaries still!

Well rain season has officially started in Japan, and it's raining way hard, but it's so awesome and pretty! I've got some really great rain gear, so no worries whatsoever. :) I'm so thankful to be in a place so awesome like Japan! At the temple the Spirit was just so strong, and I felt really so blessed to be serving in such an amazing country. Of course it's not always easy, but this experience has changed my life so much, and I'm so thankful for every blessing, trial, and especially the miracles. The other day we saw such an amazing miracle! We were heading home from the temple, and we missed a couple trains, had to pick up some things in Tokyo, and eventually we were heading back. Our train pulled up, and the car that stopped right in front of us had my favorite Sumo wrestler inside! In was Tugs!! We sat down next to him, talked some more, and set up another appointment to meet soon. Of all the trains in Tokyo, a city of 13 million people, we catch the same train as Tugs. Seriously such an awesome miracle!

It sounds like you are all doing so great, and that seriously makes me so happy! Sounds like everyone is having fun all over the world, haha, and I'm glad you're all safe! Whit, seriously those pictures from Iceland are AMAZING! I'm still telling everyone that you are chilling (haha) in Iceland, and I'm really so proud of you! You've really done such amazing things with your talent of photography, and I'm so proud of you! You saw the dreams you wanted to achieve, and you just went for it, and I know that the lord is really blessing you so much. Keep it up! :) and Tyler I'm way stoked for you too man! I hope you're enjoying Europe, but remember your British Lady is waiting for you at home. ;) Way jealous, but you know motors aren't everything, missionary bikes are pretty gnarly too.

Over all it's been such an awesome week, and really so many great miracles. I always love going to the temple, and just having that spiritual boost to keep going forward with all I've got. :) This week I've had a lot of opportunities to really get on my knees and pray fervently, as well as repent for those mistakes that I've made, and it's really strengthened that testimony that Heavenly Father loves us all so personally, and as we pray to Him, He truly hears our prayers. I know this gospel, and I love being a missionary with all my heart. I can't believe the first year is coming up!! It seems so crazy, but I'm so thankful to be hear, and I'm especially thankful to my amazing family. Love you guys so much, keep the faith and have an awesome week!! Love you guys!

Love,
Elder Justesen
P.S. Mom I'm so stoked for those packages! Thank you so much!!

Tokyo Japan Week 39

Good morning everyone!! Okay... I'm way sorry about last week! I felt seriously way bad sending off such a short letter but that's life I guess, haha. But we saw a super awesome miracle! Let me explain.

So last week we had our really great investigator Dhani call us up randomly on Monday and said he wanted to meet that night. So we thought we would have time to email after that lesson, but it ended up going a little long because Dhani had something he wanted to tell us. So Dhani is 20 years old, and has been meeting with the missionaries for 3 years, and he's truly been so prepared by the Lord. Elder Dunbar and I worked so hard with him, and then he went to Indonesia and it was a little different when he came back. Back that Monday he told us that he's just very tired and he wants to make that decision to be baptized once and for all. So! He's asking us to give him 4 super lessons, last one being tomorrow, and he said he will then make his decision to be baptized or take a break. So pretty heavy stuff, but! We prayed and prayed, and we felt such a strong confirmation that this is going to be a major turning point in Dhani's life, so we started prepping for these lessons! Dhani is looking really so great, and the other day he was asking me all about what he would have to do if he wanted to become a missionary. He really loves missionaries so much, and he stayed for all three hours of church yesterday, so he's looking really so great! Dhani has been standing between the lines of commitment for so long, and it was such an awesome miracle to see him become so determined and heartfelt about receiving that answer from the Lord. We've encouraged him to fast, pray, and just really open his heart to the Lord about how he is feeling, and we'll see how it all works out tomorrow night! It's big stuff, but I know that the Lord is proud and happy for Dhani. Dhani is actively seeking the Lord, and I know that the Lord will bless him as he does this. Keep Dhani in your prayers!!

So I really apologize so much about the short letter, but it was so awesome to see Dhani start progressing like that. As well this week, Brother Bel received the Aaronic Priesthood! Bel is seriously awesome, and it's been so awesome helping teaching the after baptism lessons, and just seeing his faith growing. He's such an awesome man, and such an awesome miracle to have met and be teaching him. He strengthens my testimony so much whenever we meet him, and it really makes me so thankful to be a missionary.

It sounds like you guys are all doing so awesome!! Tyler have a blast in Europe! Fly safe and don't be Taken okay? Haha, stay safe! I'm so excited to talk to you guys this coming weekend!!! I'm so excited to answer some questions and see how everyone is doing! I love you guys so much, and it's gonna be such a sweet reunion over Skype! Oh! So I remembered Mom said something a package coming my way soon and I just wanted to ask for a couple things if that's okay! 1: maybe some more p-day t shirts? Some of those Arbor shirts would be so awesome! As well as any other of my old t shirts would be great! The ones I have are great, but I could maybe use some more. :) plus! It's always awesome getting some of those old clothes from home! 2: if you could maybe toss in one pair of normal shorts that would be awesome as well! We're getting close to summer in Japan now, and it's really starting to warm up, so some normal p day shorts would be awesome as well. 3: okay! So there is a cd that tons of missionaries here have called the Lower Lights? Apparently it's a cd collection of church hymns covered into indie awesomeness, and I'd really love to have that cd! You can't buy it here in Japan, but apparently you can find it in the U.S.! It's way good music that I'd really love! 4: anything else you'd love to throw in there! Pictures, letters, cards, candy, anything would seriously be so appreciated. :) I always get so stoked when I get a package from home, and I really appreciate you sending me packages so often here. It really means so much to me, thank you so much!

So as well this week we had Mission Leadership Council, and it was pretty sad because it's my trainer Elder Burgin's last transfer here! He's still got a few weeks, but he and I talked for a while, and I really felt so thankful to have had such an awesome trainer. It's so true that as missionaries the Lord is always preparing us to meet His prepared children, but just as well Heavenly Father is always preparing people in our own lives that will truly change us. And that's really what my trainers were for me, and I'm really so thankful to have had such an awesome trainer like Elder Burgin. He and I were kind of freaking out because he was about transfer 8 or 9 when he picked me up from the mission home, and now I'm about the same place!! Time seriously flies by so fast as a missionary, but I'm so grateful for every moment here as a missionary, and I'm so excited to keep going forward and giving this work my all. It's not always easy, and some days you really feel like you've given you're absolute best, but sometimes the results come slow... But they do come. Heavenly Father loves us all far too much to ever let us fall, and He is constantly with us as we do all we can to follow His will and His son Jesus Christ. Especially at this 1 year mark coming up pretty soon... I took Dad's challenge and I've started collecting those things I've learned so far, and just experiences I've loved, and it's but such an incredibly humbling experience. A mission will change the course of your life forever, and make you into the person the Lord has always wanted you to be. Therein truly is the power of the Atonement, and it's something I'm so thankful for. I can still so clearly remember those first few days at the MTC just not knowing what was going to happen, wondering if I could ever learn Japanese, or most importantly if I would be a good servant of Christ... but the Lord has that power to cleanse, heal, and make us new. I'm so thankful to be a missionary. :)

I'm also super thankful for my awesome family!! Yesterday we had a Cinco De Mayo party at the Davis' house here in Tsukuba, and I can't lie, I may have gotten just a little bit homesick! Haha, their son just got back from his mission about 6 months ago, and the family is so much like ours at that time when Tyler had just got back from his mission. It's always so strange but awesome being around a family from the United States, and it just made me so thankful for the awesome family I was blessed to be with. I seriously love you guys so much, and I'm so thankful for everything that you do for me every day. :)

Well I'll leave some space for us to talk next week which I'm so stoked for!! I was thinking maybe 12 o'clock Monday my time, which I think would be Sunday evening at 8 your time? If that's cool that would be awesome! Monday is p day here, so it'd be nice to talk to you guys on that day, but whenever is good for you! I'm so excited to talk to you all, especially to the most Gnarly Mom in the world! Love ya Mom. :) I'm way excited to praise and compliment you to the point of annoyance! As well, I'll probably be wearing one of sweet short sleeve white shirts... Prepare for the Gun Show. Tokyo Japan style. And by Tokyo Japan style, I mean 16 hour time difference and on a little screen... Haha. But anyways! If that time is okay, let's go for it! If not, try to write me back soon and tell me! I hope Tyler can join us too, I'd love to say hello and talk to him too! Love you man! Saw tons of Skylines today and thought all about you!

Well I'm seriously so excited to talk to you guys, and I hope everything is going great! Thank you so much for all you do, and know that I'm always praying for you every day by name. I know that this Gospel is true, and that through the Savior Jesus Christ, we can all start again and strive to become who the Lord has always wanted us to be. I love being a missionary so much, and I'm so thankful to be here in Japan! Today marks 11 months, and I'm so excited to keep going strong! Love you guys so much, talk to you next week!!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 37

Bel's baptism

Hello everyone! It's been another seriously awesome week here in Tsukuba, and I'm way excited to write about some of the awesome miracles that happened this week. Happy Easter by the way! It looks and sounds like you guys had tons of fun, I hope it was a great day! This week we had a ward family night where we painted Easter eggs, sang some songs, and as well watched the Because of Him video! It's been so awesome to share that video around this week, and as well watch it with our investigators. That video is seriously so powerful! When I first watched it, it made me really think about all the really amazing blessings that the Savior has given me as a missionary, and as well how much my life really has changed because of Him. This week I've really felt so thankful for that incredible Atonement that can really change who we used to be. In the video it talks a lot about those chances to start again, and I know that this time as a missionary has been that for me. It's given me a chance to really look at myself and try to become a better person with the Lord, and I'm really so thankful for that chance and blessing. The Atonement has that incredible power to take who we used to be, and change us into who the Lord has always wanted us to be. I love being a missionary so much! It's really changed my life so much, and I'm so thankful to be here! Another way it has changed my life is my English is getting bad! Haha, seriously I hope I can still speak just a little bit when I come back home, but wow it's been so noticeable this week! I've been really blessed to have an awesome Japanese companion, but it's definitely stealing my English, haha.

So this week Bel was baptized!! It was seriously so awesome, and such a strong faith builder knowing that Heavenly Father is truly preparing all of His children to hear the Gospel. We met Bel just about 2 months ago, just walking on our way to the train station, and we stopped to talk to him. He couldn't speak a huge amount of English or Japanese, but he recognized the name of Jesus Christ and wanted to learn more. I was really lucky with the opportunity to baptize him on Saturday morning, and Elder Sakamoto was able to confirm him on Easter Sunday. Seriously an awesome Easter weekend. Bel is such an amazing person, and I feel really so blessed to have met him. He's really changed my life, and I feel really so blessed to have been able to share the Gospel with him. The church is very small in Nepal, but Bel is going to be such an awesome church member! He's so excited to receive the Priesthood soon, and we're way excited to just keep meeting with him now as Brother Shrestha. :) 

Just want to also say this week how thankful I am to my awesome family! Whit I really loved your email this week! It was so cool to hear about your trip down to Alaska, and hear how much you were able to share your faith with Grace and Austin, and just have an awesome week with them! Seriously those pictures are so awesome!! Haha, my companion was checking them out and he was freaking out at how pretty the mountains are. ;) as well Lex! Thanks so much for being such an awesome ward missionary. I promise that missionary appreciates what him did for him so much! It's those little things from the ward that help a missionary really feel like he's worked hard in that area, and that little going away party definitely meant a lot to him. I promise that! Tyler thanks so much for your email as well man! I really loved the pictures, and you're seriously looking way good! Sounds like you're having tons of fun in Provo, thanks for always being such an awesome example to me. I know if I can be a missionary half as devoted as you were, I think I'll be doing okay, haha. Really though, you really set that example to me of being a missionary that is always obedient, and I'm really thankful for that. A really awesome missionary serving in the Portuguese branch here in our mission just went home this week, and I got to talk to him for a while at temple day, and he really reminded me a ton of you. You're awesome Tyler! I really love you a lot man, and I'm so thankful for that awesome example you set for me all growing up. :)

Mom and Dad! Just want to say thanks. :) I did think about you guys a ton this past Sunday because it was Easter, and I really just wanted to say thanks so much for everything you do for me, and did for me as a teenager. You always were such amazing examples of positivity and love, and as well you always relied on the Lord. I'm really so thankful for that example you showed me, and for always guiding me along that right path. I'm sorry I wasn't always the best son I could have been, but I'm really excited to just repent and strive to change as much as I can as a missionary. :) This time is really so precious, and I can see now every day those moments when you would say, "hey this will help you when you are on your mission!" Those little experiences really are helping me so much everyday, and I'm so thankful for all the awesome things you've done for me. :) I love you guys!

All in all it was a really awesome week! Pretty stressful with transferring, but all in all it was an awesome miracle-filled week. The Lord has really blessed me so much here as a missionary in Tokyo, and I'm so thankful to be here! This short time has really changed my life so much, and I feel so thankful to here. :) Of course there are times when it's hard, you wish things would go differently, but I've loved this time being a missionary with all my heart. I'm so thankful for this time, and for the really awesome miracles the Lord has blessed me with. It's really changed my life so much, and I'm so thankful for that! I love His Gospel so much, and I'm so thankful for this chance to be a servant in the vineyard, here in Japan preaching the good news. I love you guys so much!!! Thanks so much for all that you do, have an awesome week!!

Love,
Elder Justesen