Misawa Transfer 5 Week 4

"Howdy howdy"

More miracles and news this week 

Heard yesterday that the boyfriend of the girl in the ward that Elder Erickson and I were teaching a few weeks ago, Zach, is looking at a baptismal date in the next couple weeks over in the states! He's read the Book of Mormon twice through and like anyone else who reads and prays about it with an open and humble heart, he believes it's true! And wants to get baptized. I was thrilled to hear that and I will keep you updated.

Had splits this week on Wednesday. I headed down to Hachinohe and worked with Elder Erickson's bean Elder Brantley. Outstanding missionary already and understands most all Japanese, it's crazy. We had a ton of fun and saw some success that day. Played basketball in our missionary attire for 45 minutes and got nice and sweaty.  Picked up some contact info from the kids we were playing with and gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon. We had a couple lessons and set a baptismal date for one of their investigators. Not sure how solid it is cause the guy is crazy quiet but... Hoping it'll work out! Hachinohe was a blast. Forgot to snag a pic.

On Thursday morning we got a call from one of the adult Japanese service missionaries working in the mission office in Sendai. Maybe the best phone call I've gotten from an older Japanese guy! He gave us what we call a "golden" referral. This guy that lives on the north hook of Japan in a city called Mutsu had been talking with a church member all the way down in Morioka and long story short, we were told he wants to take the lessons and join the church. Ya, its awesome. We have a lesson with him today at 4 and are way excited. The only thing that may be a hold back is the fact that Mutsu is a 2 hour drive both ways.. We'll see what we can do about that but this is nothing short of a blessing straight from Heaven. 

Ryou and his friend Azusa both came to English class this week and said they would come to church on Sunday as well. The next night we met this guy around 8:30PM in a parking lot outside one of our less active visits. He was on his way to his car and stopped and talked with us out of nowhere. He said he's seen our church and has wanted to check it out on several different occasions so we gave him a Book of Mormon, invited him and expected to see him as well at church on Sunday. Well, Sunday rolled around, military Ward ended at 1, ate our lunch and got ready to greet our three expected visitors for the Japanese branch at 2. We were totally pumped and ready to have some new investigators! But time went on and none of the hopeful showed except for the least likely of our pool- Kimura san. Which was a great surprise! But not as exciting to be quite frank with ya. And then our dinner appointment with a family and a potential investigator we had prepared for got postponed a few weeks. A day full of lots of high expectations and great things kinda turned into a day of unfortunate events, but I realize the will of God is different than mine and I need to rely on His timing, not mine. 

I'm continuing to learn as of recent that God works in very mysterious ways. It's almost never the case that you'll get what you want when you want it, even if it's a righteous desire. Usually, it'll be close to the opposite. You'll get what you didn't know you wanted when you least expect it. Sometimes that's great and sometimes it's not as great, but flexibility, back up plans, and the ability to move on are all inevitable and crucial components of being a missionary. 

You're all the best and I really appreciate the support you're all still giving me! Have a killer week full of delight.

Elder Robins