Tokyo Japan Week 79

Elder's night!

So cool to have an Apostle of the Lord Visit! Hello Amazing Family! It's been another really amazing week here in Urayasu, and especially yesterday was so awesome! Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Donald Rasband, and Bishop Stevenson visited our mission, and we had an amazing two mission conference! What was really such a cool miracle though was I ran into my MTC companion Elder Scott, and we got to sit by each other through the whole conference! It was just a way cool testimony builder to see that even though there were 400+ missionaries at this conference, I got to sit next to my really great friend Elder Scott. But the conference was so inspiring, and really left me with a strong determination to keep working hard with all effort, and seek to follow what the Lord wants me to be serving here as a missionary in the Tokyo Mission! I love serving here with all my heart, and I'm so excited to keep going forward with faith!

Sunset view from our apartment

Also to first answer Mom's question, I received my AWESOME Valentine's Day package! Thanks so much for the great package, it really meant so much to me, and I'm really thankful to the delicious candy! As well Whit the picture you wrote was SO cool! Thanks so much for that, I pinned it up over my desk, and it helps me get super stoked to work during the day. Also, I think you might write better kanji than me! Haha, well done. ;) As well it sounds like the whole family is doing so great, and that really makes me feel so happy, and so thankful that Heavenly Father is really blessing us all so much. During the conference today Elder Rasband discussed the power of obedience in this great gospel, and it really made me think back on my mission and how much obedience has brought so many incredible blessings and miracles. It's so cool to see that as we live the gospel joyful, and strive to do all we can to be obedient to the will of the Lord, it's so cool to see how He really does bless us and strengthen us. It's definitely been something I've felt as serving as a missionary, and it's something I want to keep going throughout my life. I love serving as a missionary so much. :)

The Tokyo Zoo!

This week was pretty awesome though! Elder Templin is such a great companion, and he has a lot of desire to keep learning and work hard each day. There still are some of those missionary skills that he's working on developing, but I feel so thankful to have this chance to help one on one. As well he's continually teaching me so much about humility and the power of really putting our fears aside and striving to do what the Lord wants us to do. He's a really awesome companion, and I feel so thankful to be working with him. Right now the Mikami kids are progressing little by little, and we're striving to work really hard with working to help the parents see the great influence that church is having on their children's lives. As well our new friend Watanabe is really excited to work towards his goal of receiving baptism on April 4th! We had a great lesson with him and the Bishop this past week, and it's looking really great going forward! Brother Erick and Sister Suita's brother Sho who we are working with as well are looking great! Really awesome things happening here in Urayasu. Just want to say thank you guys so much for all of your prayers and kindness, and the drive you share with me to keep working faithfully and with full effort. Those prayers are truly bringing so many amazing blessings and miracles, and I'm so thankful to you all! I have such an awesome family!

Well anyways the gospel is true, and the work is going forward! I'm so excited to keep going forward with faith and continually strive to be the missionary and servant that the Lord needs me to be in the Tokyo Japan mission. I'm so thankful for the chance the Lord gave to me to come here and serve the people here in Japan. I love them so much with all of my heart, and I'm so thankful for the love and kindness that they have shown to me. Urayasu is such an awesome ward, and I'm so excited to keep going forward with faith. I love serving with all of my heart, and I'm so excited to keep going forward with faith! Again thank you guys so much for all of the love and kindness you always share with me, and the incredible examples you continually share with me. Especially Tyler! Thanks so much for the amazing example you have shown to me, and being such an awesome priesthood holder example for me. Love you dude! Your email was really kind this week, and I really appreciated it. You're an awesome brother to me! Thank you guys so much for everything, have an amazing week! The book is blue, the gospel is true, and God loves you! Have an awesome week!

Love,
Elder Justesen

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

Tokyo Japan Week 77

Elder Higashi and me with Tsukushi

Hello Amazing Family!

Wow, it's been such a cool, pretty fast week! It was pretty sad saying goodbye to Elder Higashi just after one transfer, but I know he's going to go see so much success in his new area. He's such a great missionary, and I'm so thankful to have had the chance to work with him for those short 6 weeks. He really taught me so much! But Urayasu is looking so awesome, and I'm so excited to be working with Elder Templin! He's a really awesome companion, and Heavenly Father has already blessed us so much with so many awesome miracles. This week we had the chance to meet with so many cool people, and the ward member work is looking super great!

My awesome new companion!

It sounds like everyone is doing so great, and that really makes me so happy! I pray for you guys by name everyday, and I'm so thankful for all of the amazing miracles Heavenly Father is sending to our family. I'm so excited to keep working hard and with faith each day, and really give this work my whole effort so we can continue to see so many cool blessings. :) Again just want to say thank you guys so much for all of the continual outpouring of love and kindness you all share with me. I love you guys so much! I'm loving being a missionary with all of my heart, and I'm so excited for the awesome reunion in June. :) This week I found out that Annie Warr and my roommate Jordan returned from their missions! It completely blew my mind, but left me with such a strong desire to keep working with my whole focus and effort everyday. I love being a missionary so much!

Our new investigator Kenta!

So there's two really amazing miracles I wanted to share this week, and the first one is about my awesome best friend Brother Shohei Yoshida! So he came down this past week to Tokyo for a Michael buble concert (haha) and he decided to come visit me in Urayasu! We had a really awesome lunch and just caught up about Oyama, and just how awesome it is that we've become friends here in Japan! He explained that when he was living in Oyama he was having a pretty hard time, but he's so thankful to Elder Howard and I, and he said he'll never forget those good times. Shohei really has become my true brother, and I'm so so so thankful to have met him here in Tokyo Japan. He's changed my life so much, and I'm so thankful to call him my friend. It turns out he's going to be going to his missionary's wedding in Utah in May, and we're gonna hang out together in June! He's staying there for a couple months, and he's already making some plans for what we're gonna do with Elder Howard, haha. It really reminded me that this time serving as a missionary is not forever unfortunately, but the memories, and more importantly the friends we make will last forever. I'm forever thankful that the lord called me to this portion of the world, and I'm so thankful for this chance to continue striving to help His children. Dang, it's going to be SO HARD saying goodbye to Shohei though when he goes back to Japan in June! But I'm just thankful to have that dude as an eternal friend. :)

Sushi with Tsukushi!

The second amazing miracle was with the Mikami kids! This past Saturday during our exercise class with Brother Illyä, Yuriya and Kasumi randomly showed up to the church. It turns out that their mom and dad were fighting pretty bad, and they just wanted to come to the church to feel happy. I felt so thankful to share a message about prayer with Elder Templin and Brother Illyä, and then pick them up some little candy and treats. They came to church on Sunday, and little Kasumi sat by me and just held my finger during the meeting. She's only about 4 years old, and I just felt so thankful to be a representative of Christ's and Heavenly Father's love while serving as a missionary. I love those little kids so much, and although them receiving baptism might be pretty hard right now, I know that Heavenly Father will provide a way if it is His will. But for now, I'm just way thankful to be able to share that love that Heavenly Father has for them, and I'm so thankful for these little kids. :)

With Shohei

Elder Higashi and I are sad to be separated

But anyways it's been a really awesome week! Heavenly Father is good, and truly loves us all so much. Although my time serving as a missionary is winding down, I'm so excited to give my full effort this final 4 months, and then return with honor and continually strive to be the son and priesthood holder the Lord wants me to be. I love serving as a missionary with all of my heart, and I'm so excited to keep going forward with faith! Thank you guys so much for all of the love and kindness, I hope you all have an amazing week! The gospel is true, the book is blue, and God loves you!!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 76

Happy February!

Hello amazing family! I hope you guys are all doing so awesome, it was such a great week here in Urayasu! Today we received our transfer calls, and it turns out Elder Higashi is heading out and I'm staying here in Urayasu! My new companion is actually an Elder who was in my zone back in Urawa, his name is Elder Templin! His family lives in Texas at the moment, but he's actually from Okinawa, and half Japanese! Which makes him my fifth Japanese companion! Haha, hopefully my Japanese is getting a little better by now. ;) But he's such a great missionary, and I'm so thankful for the chance to work with him!

We received the call today from President Budge, and I was really thankful for the kind words he shared with me on the phone. Apparently Elder Templin has been struggling for the past little while overcoming some shyness, that has really affected his work. Apparently he and his last companion had a lot of arguments due to this, and President Budge is really focusing on making sure he feels love and that joy of the work. He told me that as they were praying where to send him, "We thought we should send him to a solid missionary, who is always happy, smiling constantly, and really enjoying the work. Someone we knew he'd love serving with. We thought of you!" I was really so blown away by that, and really so thankful for the kindness of President Budge. He's been such an amazing mission president, and one I feel so thankful to be serving with. Recently they just announced the new Tokyo Mission President, but unfortunately I'll never meet him! My group will be President and Sister Budge's last, and I'm so thankful to have such amazing mission presidents. It seems so insane that I've come down to the last 3 transfers of my mission, but I'm so excited to work hard, and keep giving this work my whole heart and focus! I love being a missionary so much!

As well this week we had the amazing Elder Aoyagi conference, and the interview went so great! Elder Aoyagi was so kind, and we had a really great talk together all in Japanese! We discussed charity, what it really means, and how we can more fully gain it in our lives. We talked about how we can look at others as our brothers and sisters, withhold any form of judgement, and simply love them as the Lord does. As well Elder Aoyagi was so kind and said he could feel that I was a missionary with lots of love for others, and he could feel it as we talked. He as well said I must have really amazing parents, which I told him I do! Haha, I also told him my family is the coolest family out there. :) It overall was such a great experience! From there the conference was just a huge blast, and so many great memories were made. As well I talked with my old companion who was serving as Assistant (except today he got transferred!) Elder Sakamoto, and I just felt thankful for the companions that Heavenly Father really blessed me with serving as a missionary. They've all truly impacted and blessed my life so much, and I'm so thankful for the amazing eternal friends, and examples they have become to me. I love the companions I've been blessed to serve with!

I just want to wish Dad another way way way happy birthday! I'm so sorry I wasn't there again, but I promise I'll be there, or we'll Skype for the next one! I hope you had such an awesome day, and know I was thinking lots about you! You're the most awesome dad ever, and I just want to say thank you so much for the father and priesthood holder example you have been for me. :) I hope you enjoyed the birthday videos! You're the greatest Pops, love you!

Well it sounds like everyone is doing so great! I miss you all so much, but I'm so thankful to know that pretty soon we'll have such an amazing reunion as a family, and I'm so thankful for the chance Heavenly Father has given me to serve as a missionary, and strive to become a better son and brother. I'm so thankful for the changes He has brought into my life, and I'm so excited to keep going forward and strive to become more of the missionary and son that the Lord wants me to be.

I hope you guys all have an amazing week, I'm praying for you by name every day! Thank you again so so much for all of the kindness and love you constantly share with me, and the incredible examples you set. I can without a doubt say I have the most awesome family ever, and I'm so thankful to serve as a missionary and help others see and feel how they can have a family relationship that is the same. I'm so thankful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the purpose and joy it brings to my life! Thank you guys so much for everything, have an amazing week! The gospel is true, the book is blue, and God loves you!!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 75

Hello Amazing Family!

Wow this week really went by so quickly, it was really awesome though! Heavenly Father has really been blessing Elder Higashi and me so much throughout this transfer, and there were a lot of way awesome miracles seen this week! First off I just want to any thank you guys so much for all of the kindness and love you guys always share with me. I'm so thankful to have such an amazing family I can truly rely on, and feel that kindness and love at all times. Love you guys. :) Also! Thanks so much for putting that awesome class schedule together for me, I really love it! It will be awesome to try out tennis again and see how that goes, haha. Thanks so much for taking all that time to make sure I'm all set to go when summer semester starts, I'm really so thankful to you guys! :)

Making new friends!

Overall it sounds as though everyone is doing really awesome, I'm so excited to hear all of the amazing things happening in everyone's life, it's so awesome to see those amazing blessings from Heavenly Father on the family! It's been so cool throughout is time as serving as a missionary to see and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for all of us, and it makes me really so happy to see Heavenly Father truly guiding our lives!

Temple day!

This week was pretty quick, and I feel so bad I don't actually have a lot to write! Except one really amazing thing happening this week! So! Elder Aoyagi of the quorum of the 70 will be visiting our mission this week, and he's asked to have personal one on one interviews with some of the missionaries in this mission, and I was selected as apart of that group! I'll be having an interview with him this coming Friday morning before the conference, I'm so excited! I'm a little bit nervous, haha, but I'm so excited to prepare spiritually and have some prayed over questions ready to ask him! If you check out this most recent Ensign or Liahona, he recently wrote a really awesome talk concerning the importance of following the words of the prophets. I'm so thankful for this great chance to sit down with such a powerful servant of the Lord, and especially a man from the country I have come to love so much. I'm so thankful for this chance to be serving in Japan, and I'm so thankful for the incredible miracles Heavenly Father has blessed me with during this time serving. I can't believe I'll be starting transfer 14 in a week, it seems so crazy! I've been doing a lot of pondering lately on the things learned as a missionary, and every time I've been really left with a feeling of immense gratitude. I've recently made a Gratitude Book where each day I'm writing down the one thing I'm especially thankful to that day, and today I'm just so thankful, and so happy to be a missionary. It's been the most life changing experience of my life, and I'm so thankful for the decision to serve. The Lord is truly changing my life through His infinite love, and through the atonement of His son, Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the Book of Mormon, and the message of love it contains, and the evidence it gives us that Heavenly Father is truly actively apart of our lives. Being a missionary is awesome!

Our investigators are doing great, and many awesome people are really starting to progress! Urayasu is pretty amazing, and I'm so thankful to be serving here. Also Mom! I finally decided where to send the little Japanese snow globe! I decided this morning during my prayer that I'm going to leave it with the Mikami kids whenever I leave Urayasu! They've really blessed my life so much, and I think they're the perfect family for that little gift I committed to give away a while back. :)

There's still so much to do, and I'm so thankful for the chance to have these last few months as a missionary. I'm so stoked to give it every effort, and continually trust in the Lord! Thanks again so much for everything, I love you guys so much! Have an amazing week!! The book is blue, the gospel is true, and God loves you!!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 74

 

Hello Amazing Family!

Hey everyone! I hope you guys are having a way awesome week, we just got back from the temple this morning! It was really such an awesome experience, and I'm so thankful that during my time here as a missionary, we can attend the temple every 6 weeks! It's such a huge blessing, and I really felt so thankful to be inside the house of the Lord today.

This week was pretty awesome! I just want to say thank you guys so much for the neck tie, cereal, and more candy! Haha, I got to be pretty careful not to eat too much of it, but it was such an awesome care package, and I'm so thankful for the little piece of home you guys sent over, it was so awesome. :) As well Mom, I just sent an email right away to President Budge with the link attached, so hopefully we should be good to go! It felt pretty crazy sending that to him, but I'm pretty excited to start school in June! It will be so awesome to start that next chapter in the medicine field, and I'm really praying that Heavenly Father will provide a way for things to all work out smoothly. Thank you so much for being so on top of all of these things, and helping me get ready for school! This past week my awesome eternal buddy Shohei Yoshida came down to Urayasu, and it turns out he's going to visiting Utah right at that time! I'm so thankful for the eternal friends that are being made here in Tokyo, Japan. :)

Elder Williams and I goofing off

As well another really amazing miracle that happened this week! So back in Urawa there was a small family that elder Shumway and I were teaching, and today Elder Shumway told me that the father made his own date to receive baptism, and it looks as though he'll be baptized on February 7th! His wife is going to Thailand to see what the church is like down there, but she's planning to receive baptism as well after him! In fact, he might be able to baptize her at that time, as he will have the priesthood! It was such an amazing miracle to hear about today, and it really gave me such a strong feeling of thankfulness as I walked into the temple. Today was really special time at the temple, and I felt so much peace and excitement for the future ahead. I know that as I continue to give a full effort each and every day, the final months of this missionary experience will be truly unforgettable. I love serving as a missionary with all my heart, and it really seems so sad to know that I only have about 20 weeks left, but I'm so excited to make each one of those days count, and give a full effort every single day.

Elder Higashi and me!

With Shohei Yoshida!

It sounds like every one is doing really awesome, and I'm so excited to hear about all of the amazing things happening! Especially Tyler and Kaitlin, that is so so awesome!! I'm so stoked for you brother. :) I just want to say thanks so much for always being such an amazing example to me, I look up to you so much! Also Whitney, congrats on the Flickr thing!! That's so amazing! I'm so proud of you, and I just want to say thank you so much for always being such a powerful example to me of pursuing our dreams. You're awesome! Haha. Also Alexa, I'm so excited to hear about all of the cool things you're doing in California! I'm excited to soon become a cougar like you at BYU, and hopefully I'll be as cool as you were when you went there. Also mom and dad! I just want to say thank you guys again so much for all of the love kindness, and so much support you always share with me. I love you guys so much, and I so thankful to be your son. I want to do all I can to be the missionary you both believe I am, and I so thankful for this chance grow, learn, and become more of the person I've always wanted to be. I love being a missionary so much!

The Mikami kids!

But anyways, this week was great! We're working really hard with the Mikami kids, and they all were able to attend church last week, and we had a really great experience with them! They all have such an awesome desire to receive baptism, we're just working to receive that permission for the mother and father. They both are Buddhist, and it's a little bit of a challenge, but with God and Jesus Christ, we know anything is possible! I was praying for them in the temple, and I felt such an assurance that things were going to work out soon enough, and I'm so excited to work alongside that promise. Although missions are far from easy, this truly has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve as a missionary. I love serving with all my heart, and I'm thankful for the chance to be in Tokyo Japan! It's the most amazing country and city ever, and I'm so excited for these next 5 months. It's going to be awesome. :) Again thank you guys so much for everything, love you guys! Have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Justesen

Tokyo Japan Week 73

Hello Awesome Family! It's been another really awesome week, and I'm so excited to talk about some of the miracles this week! Looking at the title, it's exactly how I've been feeling this week. :) Serving as a missionary has been the most amazing, sometimes most trying, but overall greatest experience of my life, and I'm so thankful for the chance I have to be serving as a missionary here in Tokyo Japan! I can't believe today starts 5 months, but I'm so excited to give every effort, and sprint to the finish! This week Heavenly Father truly blessed us with so many miracles, and I could truly feel his love throughout this week. First off with some of the really amazing miracles!

Dhani came to visit!

First Brother Futoshi Kawai in Urawa was baptized! I wasn't able to attend unfortunately, but I had the chance to talk to him on the phone right after his service, and he was really so happy. He said he felt so much peace and love in his heart when he came out of the water, and it made me feel so thankful to be his friend. I'm so thankful I had the chance to share this gospel message with him, and I'm so happy for this awesome decision he has made to follow Jesus Christ. As well this week, I received a call from the Narita elders, and it turns out Sister Chika, one of the first investigators I ever taught will be heading to the temple soon for her own endowments! I was so excited, and I felt so thankful to have met her here in Japan. As well the Matsuhashi family back in Urawa are progressing so well, and apparently the husband Brother Yu is planning to receive baptism sometime very soon! It's incredible to see and feel of the influence serving a mission has in your life, and I felt so thankful for the time serving here in Japan. Serving as a missionary as Dad and Tyler can say, is not always easy. Sometimes you really feel you're not going anywhere, or maybe that your faith just isn't strong enough. But at those times, I've been so thankful for the gift of prayer, and I'm so thankful for the incredible miracles happening here in the final months of my mission.

Apartment view!

As well this week Heavenly Father blessed Elder Higashi and I with so many cool miracles in our own area! Brother Arai is looking great for his baptism in February, and this week we had such a cool experience! As we were handing out English class fliers at the station, an older man walked by and gave a pretty strong rejection to the flier. He walked away, but 5 minutes or later, he came walking back, took a flier, and began talking to me as if we were good friends. We talked about God and the Plan of Salvation, and he seemed to really want to learn more! I asked him what happened, and why he seemed so uninterested before. He looked at me and said, "Well, as I was walking away I saw something in your eyes that told told me you knew something really special. I felt I needed to come back and talk to you immediately." And so he did! He accepted a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and we set up an appointment to meet this week! Such an awesome miracle, and just made me feel so thankful to be serving as a missionary at this time.

Brother Futoshi's baptism

It sounds like everyone is doing so great, and I'm so stoked to hear about all of the amazing miracles and blessings Heavenly Father is sending down to our family! I'm so thankful to you guys, and for all of the love and kindness you always share with me. It's been not always easy being so far away from you guys for 19 months now, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to serve, change, and become more of the priesthood holder he wants me to be. I love this gospel so much, and I'm forever thankful for the chance to be serving as a missionary for this incredible gospel. It's changed and blessed my life in so many ways, and I'm so excited for the months ahead! It's pretty cold, haha, but the work is warm and awesome. I love you guys so much, and I'm giving you all a huge hug through this email!! Have an amazing week, I love you guys! :) Also! Tell Sister Naoko thank you so much for those kind words! I'm so excited to talk to her in Japanese after the mission! Haha, thanks so much for everything, have an amazing week! Hurrah for Israel!!!

Love,
Elder Justesen