Dear Family,
Hello! This week has been awesome! I would say that it is one of the best things ever to be paired off with a companion that is so close in dendo age to yourself. On top of that, it`s Elder Wilson, so that makes it even better. We have been working as hard as we can, and been having a ton of success and fun! We were able to meet with our investigators a fair amount this week, and Otsuki is progressing so well! He prays every single time that we meet, for Heavenly Father to help so that he can be baptized. His faith and testimony of prayer is truly amazing to see! He worked really hard to be able to come to church this past Sunday, but in the end he wasn`t able to make it because his mom`s condition has recently become worse, and was relying on him more than usual to come and take care of her. Because of that, he doesn`t have a set baptism date, but he is so committed to being able to receive baptism, and we feel that when we meet with him next on Wednesday that we will be able to reset that date for sure. He has expressed lately how much he appreciates and is thankful for the efforts that we make to meet with him and call him every night to see how he is doing...saying thank you for caring and worrying about how I`m doing, but honestly I just feel like we have so much more to be greatful towards him for. He is one of the most pure and genuine people that I have met here...in Japanese we say 純粋な人 (jyunsui na hito). He has just become so dedicated to the goal of preparing for baptism...it is awesome to see :)
We have also been able to meet with Yoshiya a couple times...and oh my gosh! I realized something way cool that I had never thought of before...his name, Yoshiya (良矢) means "Good Arrow" how cool is that?? I love Japanese kanji...there are so many cool meanings like that. Anyway, we were able to meet with him and finish teaching about the restoration and are now teaching about the plan of salvation. It`s amazing because he already believes in so many of the things that we teach...he is so ready to receive this gospel! He just needs to feel that this gospel is the path he needs to take...from all that he says, it has everything that he is looking for :) We also were able to meet with Nakatou and the brazilian Shotoku family...they`re doing good, and we`re hoping to be able to meet with them again soon!
Actually this week we had another really cool experience with our in-active members! Nancy and Karen Nakajima came to church again (the two American members)...but this time they didn`t just bring themselves, they brought another in-active member along with them, who we have been trying to contact for months! He came and participated in Sacrament Meeting and the branch meal that we had after church and seemed to have a pretty good time. We invited him to the sports night that we are having on the 25th of this month and he is planning on coming :) We are continuing to work with the other in-actives that we`ve been seeing lately, and have set a goal with one of them to have an interview with the branch president to prepare for receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood and entering the temple! Really excited for him :) Things are also going really well in preparation for the fireside that we will be having with President and Sister Baird on the 26th...the branch has created awesome fliers for it and are passing it out to all of the less-actives, so we are hoping to have a pretty big turn out :)
Responsibilities as zone leader have been pretty interesting! In the end I actually am not going to be the district leader as well, so that is kind of a relief! Would`ve been fun I`m sure, but I think one at a time is good. Along with coordinating a lot more with the branch and district presidencies of Nagano ken, we talk a lot more with the APs and report all of the zone`s stats and that kind of stuff every Monday morning. It`s actually way fun because Elder Rust (the one that I was in the same room with in the MTC) just became one of the APs, so I get to hear from him more. Everyone is staying genki, Elder Shade and Sister West, the two bean chans, are adjusting quickly to things here in Nagano, and everyone`s dendo fire is up! :) Elder Skankey up in Ina is actually the new district leader, and we have been combined with Suwa...so every district meeting on Friday is almost the size of a zone conference! Lot of fun to see everyone more often though.
Anyway, I think that I had better run here pretty quick...not a whole lot of time left...but I love all of you guys! Thanks as always for your e-mails and support...you mean the world to me :) Have a great week!
-Elder Voss
Hello! This week has been awesome! I would say that it is one of the best things ever to be paired off with a companion that is so close in dendo age to yourself. On top of that, it`s Elder Wilson, so that makes it even better. We have been working as hard as we can, and been having a ton of success and fun! We were able to meet with our investigators a fair amount this week, and Otsuki is progressing so well! He prays every single time that we meet, for Heavenly Father to help so that he can be baptized. His faith and testimony of prayer is truly amazing to see! He worked really hard to be able to come to church this past Sunday, but in the end he wasn`t able to make it because his mom`s condition has recently become worse, and was relying on him more than usual to come and take care of her. Because of that, he doesn`t have a set baptism date, but he is so committed to being able to receive baptism, and we feel that when we meet with him next on Wednesday that we will be able to reset that date for sure. He has expressed lately how much he appreciates and is thankful for the efforts that we make to meet with him and call him every night to see how he is doing...saying thank you for caring and worrying about how I`m doing, but honestly I just feel like we have so much more to be greatful towards him for. He is one of the most pure and genuine people that I have met here...in Japanese we say 純粋な人 (jyunsui na hito). He has just become so dedicated to the goal of preparing for baptism...it is awesome to see :)
We have also been able to meet with Yoshiya a couple times...and oh my gosh! I realized something way cool that I had never thought of before...his name, Yoshiya (良矢) means "Good Arrow" how cool is that?? I love Japanese kanji...there are so many cool meanings like that. Anyway, we were able to meet with him and finish teaching about the restoration and are now teaching about the plan of salvation. It`s amazing because he already believes in so many of the things that we teach...he is so ready to receive this gospel! He just needs to feel that this gospel is the path he needs to take...from all that he says, it has everything that he is looking for :) We also were able to meet with Nakatou and the brazilian Shotoku family...they`re doing good, and we`re hoping to be able to meet with them again soon!
Actually this week we had another really cool experience with our in-active members! Nancy and Karen Nakajima came to church again (the two American members)...but this time they didn`t just bring themselves, they brought another in-active member along with them, who we have been trying to contact for months! He came and participated in Sacrament Meeting and the branch meal that we had after church and seemed to have a pretty good time. We invited him to the sports night that we are having on the 25th of this month and he is planning on coming :) We are continuing to work with the other in-actives that we`ve been seeing lately, and have set a goal with one of them to have an interview with the branch president to prepare for receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood and entering the temple! Really excited for him :) Things are also going really well in preparation for the fireside that we will be having with President and Sister Baird on the 26th...the branch has created awesome fliers for it and are passing it out to all of the less-actives, so we are hoping to have a pretty big turn out :)
Responsibilities as zone leader have been pretty interesting! In the end I actually am not going to be the district leader as well, so that is kind of a relief! Would`ve been fun I`m sure, but I think one at a time is good. Along with coordinating a lot more with the branch and district presidencies of Nagano ken, we talk a lot more with the APs and report all of the zone`s stats and that kind of stuff every Monday morning. It`s actually way fun because Elder Rust (the one that I was in the same room with in the MTC) just became one of the APs, so I get to hear from him more. Everyone is staying genki, Elder Shade and Sister West, the two bean chans, are adjusting quickly to things here in Nagano, and everyone`s dendo fire is up! :) Elder Skankey up in Ina is actually the new district leader, and we have been combined with Suwa...so every district meeting on Friday is almost the size of a zone conference! Lot of fun to see everyone more often though.
Anyway, I think that I had better run here pretty quick...not a whole lot of time left...but I love all of you guys! Thanks as always for your e-mails and support...you mean the world to me :) Have a great week!
-Elder Voss
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