Squirrel Jumpsuit

This week was awesome! We got to keep working with our man, Keisuke, who is a way great dude. Elder Spackman and I met him last transfer, and we've been meeting with him since. He's so solid, I love this guy! We also met with our investigator named Kazu, who I went to the airbase with last week. He looks like he has a ton of potential. He told us the reason that he is learning is so he can learn about a God, and draw closer to Him. Seriously, Kazu has some of the most sincere
interest I've seen. I'm way blessed to be able to meet and learn with him.

Also, we met with President Warnick this week for interviews, so that was great. :)

One lesson I learned this week was when I was having a conversation with my ward's Bishop. He explained to me the difference between loving someone and being sweet to someone. When you love, you give the person what they need to grow and become better. When your sweet with someone, you just pat them on the back and try your best to give them what they want to make them happy. No one in this world loves more our Father and our Savior, and sometimes they give us things in our lives
that seem so hard and difficult. But, just remember to rely on Them, and they will show you exactly how every trial and hard time is for your good and benefit. I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I know that they love you all.

I loved you all! Thank you for all your letters and support!

Elder Nelson

I saw Elder De Andrade again this week!

This is tsukemen, probably my favorite food in Japan. It's noddles that you take and dip in this thick broth soup stuff, and it taste so so good.

Us eating with the other Elders, a member, and our investigators. Left to right: Keisuke, Elder Jennings, Elder Mizuguchi, Elder Tree, Choyo, me, and Kazu.

The Week: Coming soon to an email near you

Hello everyone! This week was way good, there was a lot of good things that happened!

We had a festival on an airbase this week. The base only opens up for anyone to walk on once a year, so there were a ton of people there. We went with an investigator named Kazu, and ate some real American food. It was so crazy being around so many English speakers. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

We held a Chinese Night at the Hachioji church. The event was run in Chinese and Japanese, and everyone who came was supposed to bring some type of food, potluck style. I thought only like 5-6 people would come, but it turns out we get close to 45 people who attended. It was a huge miracles to have everyone there, espcially since we were able to have our mission President and his wife come as well. Sister Warnick speaks Chinese, and so she was able to speak to everyone at the event and share a message with them. It was way awesome!

Elder Yamashita from our area Presidency came to this mission and spoke to us this past week, so that way awesome. I was able to learn a lot from him and from the Spirit. He spoke on a lot of things, but there are two things that I feel like I should share. 1) He was talking about asking for member referrals, and how to more effectively do that. He said we should be asking people if they know someone from one of these situations: recently had a baby, recently moved, recently had a death in the family, or recently married. That's all in PMG, but he reminded us of it. The point is, I know there are a lot l you at home who are looking for ways to share the gospel. If you are, then start with those people!

The second thing he shared was about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Essentially what he shared, and what I feel like I should share, is that the whole purpose of this life is to improve so we can return
home to our Father. Because Heavenly Father loves all of us, He gave us the Atonement to allow us to change and grow. Rely on His Son, Jesus Christ and everything can and will work out for your good!

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Elder Nelson

At the Airbase. Yes, Kazu is eating a meat lollipop.

The Chinese night!

Baptism and the Temple!

Hello everyone! I don't have a lot of time today because we went to the temple! It was great! Seriously, the temple is one of my favorite places. Make time to get to the temple this week. No where else on earth is quite as close to heaven and to our Father as His holy temples.

Our boy Tou got baptized! Seriously, Tou is the best. I love this guy so much. He has so much faith, he's like my idol. He is so willing to try and keep the commandments, even if he wasn't sure what would happen. But, he said he would try, and so he gave it his best, and the Lord blessed him for it. Tou is the best!

That's all I have time for, but I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

Elder Spackman came back so he could baptize Tou

Tou just bein awesome

Battle Plan: Throw Sharks at 'em

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week, because mine was really good! Here goes my best shot at summing up a week's worth of stuff what happened into a readers digest email!

I saw Elder De Andrade again! This time with pictures! Yes! He's doing great as usual!

We had an awesome Sunday this past week, we haven't had normal church for a while since we had the Sapporo temple dedication and stake conference. But! Now we're back in business. We were able to get our boys Tou San and Keisuke San, and also our recent convert Shintaro San is still putting in work and he came as well. It was great to see the work meet Tou and Keisuke and continue building their relationships with them. It was so great when they would just be sitting there and someone would come and talk with them. If you see some at church you don't know, please talk with them! It helps so much more than you know!

There was a really simple experience this past week that really stuck out to me. We were walking to the train station, and in front of us was this business man walking in the same direction. There are about a million and one business men in Tokyo, so that's pretty normal, but walking beside him is his little daughter who reaches up and they both walk together to the train station. He drops her off at the bus stop, and keeps going on. What stuck out is that the man looked exactly like every other business man, nothing really special looking about him. But I could see just by the way he was walking and going with his daughter how much he cared for her. We have no way of knowing who people are, what their hearts are like. All I do know is that they are all God's children, and they all love and deserve to be loved. Go and show someone a bit more kindness, love your family a bit more, serve a
stranger. Just go out there and love how Christ would have you live, and you will change the world.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your letters and support. You're all the best!

Elder Nelson

The one and the only, Elder De Andrade

We had a transfer!

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great week. We had transfers this week, so that has a great, crazy week. There have been so many miracles that have happened!

First things first, I saw Elder De Andrade this week! He is serving in the same zone as I am, so I was able to see him at Stake Conference. He's looking good! It's was so great to see him, for only a couple
minutes, but it was so good! We didn't take any pictures or anything 😁. But! I'll see him again when I visit his district meeting this week, so I'll take a photo then (⌒▽⌒)

We had a really cool miracle one transfer day this week. While we were waiting for an Elder to arrive in the area, we were working around the train station, and this lady walks up to us and starts talking. She told us she had a friend who goes to church in another area of our mission. We walked and talked with her, and she said that she had time right then, and wanted to learn about church. We called the Sister missionaries, and they were was close by, so they met her at the church and shared with her about the church. It was such a cool way to see how God guides us and helps His children.

We had Stake Conference this week. It was way good! There were a lot of good parts, but my favorite part was the last speaker. He spoke about several different things, but some of the highlights were about our attitudes. He said that smiling and laughing are both signs of feeling the Spirit. I personally don't believe the Spirit will ever make you feel down on yourself, or make you feel worthless. Now, that doesn't mean we won't have trials, or we won't feel sadness. But, as we rely on the Lord and trust in Him, we will be able to feel peace in our decisions and be able to smile. The other thing he shared was simply that it's better to look up. Look up to the Lord, and rely on Him. Look up and smile!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the support and love and care that I can feel from you. You are all such good examples to me and I'm so blessed to have you in my life. I love you all! Keep up the smile and laughter!

Elder Nelson

Elder Jennings (my new companion) and three kids we met on the street

It rained yesterday.

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great day! I didn't have a chance to send out an email yesterday because there was a typhoon that blew through town, and we all had to stay inside all day. Seriously, it was raining so hard over here, I just couldn't believe it. But, regardless, we were able to get a lot of cleaning done around the apartment, which is really nice *\(^o^)/*

We got to watch the Sapporo Temple dedication this week. It was so awesome, I love temples. President Nelson spoke at and dedicated the temple. It was a wonderful Spiritual experience. I could just feel again and again how big of a blessing it is to have temples on the earth, and I know that there are going to be so many blessing poured out because of the new temple here. The Lord is mindful of all of His children!

We got transfer calls this week! I'm going to be staying in Hachioji, but my companion will be leaving. I'm going to miss Elder Spackman, we've seen a lot of miracles together and gotten a lot of work down. My new companion is going to be Elder Jennings. He is a way fun guy, and I know I'm going to be able to learn a lot from him during this next transfer!

We are still working with our boy Tou San. He is progressing way well right now. He came to one of our lessons, and was like, "Hey, I wanna repent. How do you do that?" Haha yes! It's such a pleasure to work with him, he's so humble and he is really in tune with the Spirit as we teach. Tou is the best!

We have a new investigator named Keisuke, and we were able to have a great member present lesson with our recent convert, Shintaro. We taught about faith, repentance, and baptism. We asked Keisuke what kind of blessings he wanted to receive from God, and he said he just wanted to feel Gods love, since he doesn't think he's ever felt that before. But, I can promise him and everyone else out there that God does love you. He loves you so much.

I love you all tons! Have a great week!
Elder Nelson

Some cool kids who we had lunch and a lesson with. They are way tall for a Japanese person.

Got to meet this great guy while knockin on some doors during an exchange

This is Hachioji Station. I love this place.

♪（ｖ＾＿＾）ｖ

Hello, my friends and family! I hope you had a great week. It's been great here, we've been way busy and seen a ton of miracles!

We had lunch with a guy named Ebi this week. He wanted to go out to lunch together, and so we went with him. As we were walking towards lunch, he told us he had already made a reservation for where we were going to eat. Yeah, a reservation. We went into this really expensive looking hotel, and into an even more expensive looking restaurant. He said, "We have the buffet, so go for it." And we did. At the end of the meal and our conversation, he wouldn't let us pay for it or anything. We didn't see the receipt, but I can guess that it was a nice little bundle. I now know what it's like to eat like a rich person. *\(^o^)/*

We're working with a guy named Tou right now. He moved here from China about 3 years ago, and he speaks pretty good Japanese. What's really nice is that there is a recent convert in the ward who got baptized about 3 months ago who is fluent in Chinese, Japanese, and English, so he is helping us out a ton. But! Tou is literally the best. He pulled an all nighter so he could read the pamphlets we gave him and this Book of Mormon. That night, as it was getting early late, he said that he just felt like he needed to pray. So, he prayed. And he said that the indescribable feeling came to his heart. He said it felt like there was nothing else there except for God and himself. In that moment, he felt close to God, and it left him with the biggest feeling of peace. God loves all of His children. Turn to Him in prayer, and He will bless you and love you with the tenderness of loving parent. I know that He loves you all.

I hope you all have a great week, and I hope you know I love you all! Thank you for all your support and love, you're the best! Love you!

Elder Nelson

At lunch with our boy, Ebi.