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Monday, March 22, 2010

letter sent 3.22.10

this week has been quite amazing. alot of great things have happened. first it started with a junkai in miakonojo. we hada family home evening with the ward there and i was able to play and sing a song for them there on guitar which was pretty fun. Elder Johnson my austrailan mtc roomate sang whil i played as well. hes a funny kid. so that was a good way to start off the week.
the junkai in miakonojo was really sweet. it was cool to dendo with doki *mtc friends. we found alot of cool people. found a new investigator a potential and a lady who said she was going to come to church. it was really successful and a good spiritual experience. its amazing to see the lords hand in this work. to feel the spirit working through you to find a nd teach Gods children. theres really no feeling like it.now i need to do that in miyazaki now haha. but this week here in miyazaki was also really successful. we visited our golden chinese investogator at work this week and ate some chinese food witch was really good. it ironically reminded me of america. i dont get chinese food here and we ate it more at TSJ so it was natsukashii. Anyways he is aweseome. he is the only chef and has to work everyday to keep the resturant going and to keep his friends employed so he cant quit. its hard. but he wants to baptized and calls us for lessons everytime he has a yasumi or break like once a month. crazy eh? chinese people are so perfect. china is going to explode someday i think. so we have a lesson this week which im looking forward to.
next we met with kadota san, it was a way solid and spiritual lesson. he committed to comuing to church everyweek now., that was way sweet. and in he still wants to recieve baptism as well. just will take time. but someday he will be baptized . so we are way excited for him. he did come to church and hes doing very well, speaking of church this sunday was the homecoming of the shibukaicho branch presidents daughter. it was weird seeing a homeciming and think that that day will come sooner than i think. it was really weird but good, shes so stoked on dendo and wants to joint for us all she can. so thats cool.
but perhaps the highlight of the week was the hayashi family coming to church. it was so awesome i seriously love that family and it was sweet to see them at church. i think that had a relally good time and the members were really good to them. It was so sweet. there 4 kids were way excited to be there too. This week is a big week for them. keito is starting scholl and there expectiung a new baby on the 25th so thats exciting. its a perfect time for them. ther family is so happy and reminds me of me and trevor jaff and brayn as little children. this is what our gospel is all about. families. finding happiness here on earth and making that happiness eternal. so its a really specail oppurtuinty i have to be able to work with the hayashi family.
well thats some highlights of yet another amazing week. thats about it from me here in miyazaki japan. keep it real party people.
love elder martinez

Sunday, March 14, 2010

letter sent 3.14.10

Another week has flown by. its crazy, i cant believe it. We hada lot of actvities this week to make it interesting, so it was def fun. on Tuesday i went to a pizza buffet. i miss american pizza! but i have to say i do like japanese pizza as well.im gertting used to the mayonase corn sausage, seaweed, weird cheese pizza. its starting to grow on me. haha.
so i guess the first exciting event was The Petersens American Kindergarden graduation. haha. It was way funny to see a bunch of little japanese children dance, sing and act. they all spoke in english. it was broken, but its crazy, everyone in japan knows a little english. It was funny, they sang some church songs and later Bro Petersen gave a lesson on Gods love. it was really cool. there were a ton of people there and was a good experience. Were able to meet some less actives and a potential investigator so it turned out really well.
Then on Friday we planned a sweet volleyball activity at a gymn. we invited and committed 6 non members to come. as well as several members. Then everyone bailed. so it was stunk. but it made it all worth it when Kota came. Hes 17. a way nice kid. so it turned out to be only 6 of us but everyon had a good time. The members befriended kota well so it was perfect. it was crazy playing volleyball. real volleyball. natsukashikatta. except im 2 feet taller than everyone so its kind of funny.
The third sweet activity was a YM YW activity. they played wii sports on the wall of the inside of the church. of course we couldnt play but that to was natsukashii. it was funny to watch. and of course it was all in japnese so it was extra sweet. i talked to a nice man brother Markam. Another gaijin in our word. it was good to have another good talk in english. hes a nice guy. there was a good turn out to that too, non members and all.
So this week has been really sweet, we had a lot of sweet activities to get people out, who normally dont come and we had a really good turn out to church yesterday so i think it payed off. I dont know if i told you but we had training 2 weeks ago with the mebers from a 70 elder yamashita. the church has put out anew plan for asia. A rescue Plan to help non member part member less actives and people who havnt been to the temple yet, Its a very detailed plan and will be good. It will help us work more efficently with the mebers and help evryone come closer top Christ. So we have been trying to promote that wiht the members and trying to work well with them, i think the mebers like us so thats the first step. i have been thinking about this rescue plan and thought of mathew 18 verse 12 13. about leaving the 99 sheep to find the 1 lost sheep. i think its going really well so far. the ward is working hard, and thats how missionary work succeeds
so this week hasnt been all play, weve been quite busy, im exhausted. we had lot of sweet lessons this week , and weve been working on getting Tsuda friends so its been a crazy week. We also had a sweet lesson with Sadanaga san, our fairly new investigator. hes way funny. we talked about the second part of the Plan of salvation. In the beginning we revewed what we taught last time and he explained to me what the atonement was with great detaiol hes got a really great memory. Anyway the lesson went really well. we talked about the kingdoms, and of course focused on the celestial kingdom, the spirit was strong. it strengthened my testimony. the celestial kingdomwill be so sweet. we shared 3 nephi 28 10 to help describe heaven. it sounds so perfect. a fulness of joy. i cant even comprehend it. We cant, or let anyone else, settle for anything less than making it to the clestial kingdom and obtaining eternal life with our families in a state of complete joy. so we helped sadanaga san see this. and then committed him to baptism. he said he couldnt cause he was a grave keeper, i dont know what exaclty know what that implys but we asked him to pray this week if it was the right thing to do, he said he wouldnt pray this week but tonight tomorrow and the next day haha. then he said once he recieved his answer he said he would happily receive baptism. we later got a call asking how much it costs haha. anyway it was a really good lesson. he ended with prayer and blessed that me and Elder Burnett could get married and make happy children and go to heaven. ive never had anoyone pray for me like that. i think my life will be pretty good.
so as you can see things are going really good here in Miyazaki. Its saiko. im well. happy. and alive. I love the mission and serving the people of japan. Hope everyone is doing well, untill next week
Elder Martinez

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Letter sent 3.7.10

hello everyone.
this week has been another good one and has flown bye. weeks do go by really quick its incredible. and thanks for all the letters as usual. i love to hear from everyone. well there were lots of good things happen this week but i will just talk about a few. first is sadanaga san. hes our new investiogator you conatcted us ata stoplight three weeks ago and has been to chruch twice since then. he is doing really. well its amazing . we have had some good lessons with him lately. he does everything we ask him. It really cool to work with people like that.Hes a nice man of about 40. its just especially cool to see the lords hand in this work. Its cool to see people that we are lead to and people that are led to us. i love being able to wittness thes miracles everyweek as we are constantly meeting new people. i love it.
As for tsuda hes having trouble with smoking still but has a testimony so its been really hard. weve postponed his baptism again till Trevor and kristens big day the 17th of march ( the real date is March 26) so i pray he will stop smoking by then. hes had some concerns and doubts lately too so say a prayer for him. Tsuda is a way good person. hes classic.haha so i hope so bad that he can make this next baptismal date.
Next is the hayashi family. they are so awesome. They are investigators. i love visiting them and reading an praying with there shcildren there so funny and the all love the missionaries and love to pray. I love working with them and feeliong the love thats in there home. I want nothing more than for them to becaome an eternal family. they are perfect. reminds me of all of you. this week i shared a spiritual message using my min mag light haha thanks dad. we turned out the lights and read mosiah 16 verse 9 together under the candle lick flashlight. it was cool. a simple but powerful message. the lord is our light and will be there in all times of darkness that come our way. he is a light that cannot be put out. and endless source of light.he is our savior. he is the reason.
Another hioghlight ios working with a another family the Kikuchi. The mother is a recent convert and they have the coolest 5 year old daughter, sakura. there an amazing family as weel. they want to go the temple and are taking preperation classes. This week i made a little card for them with the salt lake city temple on it and wrote a little message. I was able to go visit them with our zone leader (who was here ion miyazaki at the timeof her baptism). Weshared a quick message and testified of the the temples of the lord. i showed them my favorite picture of all of us in front of the oaland temple and was able to testify of the power and sacredness of the temple. I will never forgot the oppurnity we had to fgo to the temple together before i left and cant wait for the oppurtinuites that will be present in the future. I love the temple. i know families are eternal and greatful for this previlige i have to share this message with families in Japan. this is truly the greatest work on the earth.. the lords work.
thanks for your love and support. untill next week
Love, Elder Martinez