How is everyone doing? This week was a blast! 2 splits, Zone Conference and my first Takikawa Eikaiwa! Tuesday we went down to Iwamisawa by train and I went on Splits with Elder Rostedt. He is a really fun Elder. He does his best to come closer to the Lord and have fun at the same time. Wednesday night we I taught Eikaiwa that only had 2 people come to it. That was a first and it is a lot of fun! When I teach I usually end with American slang and it makes me laugh so much hearing Japanese people ending all of their sentences with "man." (: Thursday night we went to Honbu in Sapporo to spend the night because Zone conference was from 8-2. It was so nice seeing so many missionaries again! That is the only down side about being in the country areas, you do not see other missionaries very often. Elder Whiting of the 70`s came and talked to us about how we can perform miracles and have the spirit more abundantly in our lives. It was a very spiritual Zone Conference. The next day we had splits with the Zone leaders and we had the largest meal I have ever had in Japan. This place called マリン (Marlin) gives these huge sized meals for really cheap. My meal could have fed 2 or 3 people. Elder Miyaki and I got sick afterward for about an hour. Yesterday President Nakatsuka came to the Takikawa Branch meeting and I was teaching a lesson from PMG to the members that day:o That was a little nerve racking. Thankfully the church has DVDs in Japanese which I gratefully used. After church we taught a lesson, reset a baptismal date, and made 4 appointments in a couple of hours. Takikawa is on fire with missionary work! I was definitely blessed when I was transferred here. My teaching abilities have opportunities to grow everyday now instead of once a week.
Spiritual:
During Elder Whiting`s Q/A session, someone asked how we can know when to perform miracles and how to perform miracles. And everything was easily explained from the example of the Apostles in the new testament. During Christ`s ministry he sent out his apostles to spread the word of the gospel and to invite all to be baptized. When they returned they said that they could not cast out devils and do what Christ had done. Christ told them to do a few things, but the point was to be obedient and keep practicing the basic principles of the gospel, fasting, prayer and scripture study to name a few. But these were needed so that when Christ left the apostles could have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. After the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles received the Holy Ghost, the apostles performed many miracles. We need to obey the rules to have the Spirit so we can be prompted to and perform miracles.
Mom: Yes I got my package! Thanks! The strawberry milk thing is awesome! And I needed an american tooth brush. They are the best! We ship our bikes thru a shipping company and it is starting to cool down a bit. Takikawa gets a lot of snow fast so I expect to see snow in October. Sone san is 20 and only has 20% interest in being baptized, but he is too cool to not be baptized so it will happen.
Dad: Just wait! Jesus the Christ is awesome! I am almost done with it and I don`t want it to end!
Emily: I swear reading your email was just like reading stuff on FB and Twitter again. I guess I have been reading a lot of formal and confusing stuff since I have been on the mission. Way nostalgic.
I love you all and would love to hear from you!
Love
Elder Swenson
Zone Conference
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