Hey how is everyone?

So it was another good week man we are so busy its hard to believe sometimes. The days are really flying by and we are already going into the 2nd week of the transfer.

Monday - After email we headed out to that guys house to see if he wanted to be baptized. To tell you the truth Elder Muraoka and I didn't have a lot of faith that he would actually want to be baptized but we were proved wrong. When we pulled up to his house he was waiting in Sunday clothes and ready to go. we were pretty surprised needless to say. From there we rode our bikes together to the church and had a little baptism with him and the bishopric. I actually got to baptize him. When they asked who was going to do the baptism my comp pointed at me and said him so i did it. I only got to teach him maybe 2 times so I didn't do much but it was a great experience and pretty cool.

Tuesday - We had a bunch of lessons planned for this day but they all got canceled except for one. The one lesson we had was with a guy we had found the previous Sunday. His name is tachibana and when we met him we were really excited to teach him. He had read some of the bible which is pretty hard to find out here in Japan. When we met him at the station he seemed a little weird and wouldn't shake my comps hand or the members but he seemed fine with me. He didn't really talk with the other 2 while we walked to the church and just with me. He used a ton of really hard words and a bunch of stuff that I didn't understand at all so it made it kind of hard to talk with him. We got to the church and started the lesson. During the lesson I had no Idea what was going on at all. His Japanese was really weird and I couldn't figure out what was really going on but I just tried to do my best. During one point during the lesson the member asked him what he was saying and that he didn't understand the words he was using then I realized I wasn't the only one having a tough time understanding. I just thought he was weird or something and kept on teaching. Afterwords we tried to get him to pray about the BOM and to say the closing prayer but he refused so we ended the lesson and started for the door and got outside of the church. We started to wave goodbye and he turned around and said that he had one last thing to ask me. I said ok and go ahead and he said he wanted to tell me so the other couldn't hear so he put his hand up to my ear like a he was telling me a secret and told me to be really careful of the girls in Japan because there is a women like a snake after me and that in America there are 2 special people waiting for me and I have to be careful. I promised him that I wasn't married and no one was waiting but he was 100 percent sure. My comp asked him why he only would tell me and he told him it was because he could see that I was pure and then told us goodbye and went home. I found out afterwords from my comp and the member that he was absolutely crazy and saying all sorts of crazy stuff during the lesson. Things like how he had talked to a raccoon in the forest. Trained and gotten 3 names from the emperor of Japan and a bunch of crazy stuff. His Japanese was so hard that my comp and the member only understood about 1/4 of it so yeah it was pretty tough. Pretty funny stuff. Gotta love the crazies in Japan.

Wednesday -
I had a split with an elder from another area that came to mine. It was fun we were able to find one investigator.

Thursday- We had District Mtg. Its nice not having to get it all planned and ready anymore. It was about the BOM and i really felt like i need t use it in my work more often. After that we had a big planning session for the week and the zone. We also had a lesson with an investigator named Shinta. He is a referal from a member and is her BF. He is reading the BOM and praying and really progressing well. We taught about Joseph Smith and the restoration and showed him the DVD. It was way strong and he felt the spirit for sure. We asked him to give the closing prayer and he said in his prayer thank you for teaching me the truthfulness of the BOM and Joseph smith and some other great stuff. We are pretty sure that he will get baptized.

Friday - We went to another Districts District meeting and then another split afterwords. Since we are ZL's we are suppose to go as much as we can and do splits with everyone. Our zone is the biggest in the mission with around 20 elders to split with so we are going to be doing around 2 every week and still not be able to fit everyone in. I went to a different area and worked with another elder. We were able to find 1 but i hoped to be able to find one more but we didn't get another.

Sat. -
We we worked hard but didn't have much luck and couldn't find anyone.

Sun. - It was a good Sunday and we had one person come to church. We have taught him everything and finished up tithing and fasting on this Sunday. He accepted it and is ready to be baptized but he still doesn't feel like he has prepared enough. We set a new date for Oct. 10th and hopefully he will feel ready by then. He is from china and is pretty awesome. He can't really speak Japanese so I teach him in english which he understands pretty well. We also were able to make up for the day before not finding anyone and found 3 new investigators.

It was a way good week and hopefully this coming week will be just as good. We have Zone leader council which is going to be a lot of fun. One day they have just a bunch of activities planned like hiking and a campfire and stuff and the next day is training so we are pretty excited for it.

Thank you for all your support.

Love you
Cam

Hey,

Well our 2 Baptisms went through perfect. They both were really nervous but did a good job bearing their testimonies afterwords and a lot of good members showed up and were able to encourage them. It was really cool. I got to baptize Rei (The bigger one) and Suzuki, Shun the skinner guy with long hair and a bad mustache. Man it was pretty awesome and felt way cool to finally get some baptisms again. I actually transferred so I didn't get to be there for their confirmation but hopefully it all worked out yesterday.

Well yeah I transferred. I am now in Wakayama actually the place where I spent Christmas last year when I was in Tanabe. Its a Zone Leader area so yeah I guess I am a ZL now. Our Zone is the biggest in the mission so its kind of crazy with Phone calls and we will be doing at least 2 splits a week with all the other areas while trying to keep our area up and running. My comp. is an amazing missionary from Okinawa (The Island way below Japan with a bunch of American bases on it) He is on his last transfer and is pretty pumped to work hard these last few weeks. He is a really really good missionary and I am going to learn from him. I feel like a new missionary again when I dendo with him because the gap is so big on skills and teaching but he is patient and puts up with it. I am pretty excited for this transfer. We have at the moment 9 people committed to baptism that have a date. Its pretty crazy insane how hard they have been working in this area, hopefully I can keep it going and not let it all go to waste.

Monday - The baptism went great. Members came and even president came to see it. Hope you like the pics. they didn't turn out as good as I hoped.

Tuesday - We got the call for transfers and spent most of the day packing. We had Eikaiwa that night but not too many people came.

Wednesday - We spent most of the day visiting friends and old investigators people that I had met while in Habikino. Also met with Rei and Shun got their addresses and said goodbye. Kind of weird thinking I only met them like 2-3 weeks go but we got to be pretty good friends in that short space of time.

Thursday - So it was transfer day. Hauled all my bags out to Wakayama which is a decent ways away. Its actually in the same stake as Brandon's Grandma so when I go on a split over to that area I might have time to visit her which would be awesome. We did planning and then later that night we had 2 lessons. One was with a guy who has a date already and we taught about lesson 1. He seemed to think it was good and said he would read and pray.

Then next lesson was with Shimada. He had a pretty crazy story. I guess he showed up to church last week on Sunday and wanted to talk to the missionaries. Turns out he was contacted 2 years ago by them out by some train crossings. They talked about some stuff and whats important in life and gave him a flier and parted ways. Turns out when he got contacted by the missionaries he was waiting for a train to come by so he could jump in front of it. Yeah so they pretty much saved his life. We were able to set a date in the lesson for baptism and also set up another appointment. He said he was going to come on Sunday but he never showed up unfortunately.

Friday - We had a day full of finding and streeting and were able to make 3 appointments which was pretty cool. Elder Muraoka is really good at streeting so hopefully I can learn from him this transfer.

Sat. - We had Finding time and found 2 investigators. We also visited a guy who was suppose to get baptized but got scared and didn't show to the baptism last week. We scheduled him again for yesterday but he didn't show again. He said he is going to do it today but we will see what happens. We also tried to visit a guy they baptized 3 or 4 weeks ago who has stopped coming to church and won't answer their calls but he wasn't home

Sun. - We had a lesson with a Chinese guy named Kakaichi. His date is for next week. We taught Word of wisdom, Law of chastity lesson 2 and a few other commandments which he accepted. He is looking good but just is really busy so it will be hard to meet with him before Sunday hopefully we can do it.

Also we had a lesson after church with a member and her boyfriend and set a date for him to get baptized and work towards. He doesn't know if its true or not or if its what he wants to do but we are going to be teaching him from here on out. We were able to find 1 more investigator after church.

So yeah its pretty dang busy. I feel a little overwhelmed but am excited to be here and hopefully help my zone out. I am glad that I got a way good comp and am excited that I will get to work with him. It should be a fun fast transfer.
Sounds like everyone is busy back home.

Love you
Cam

Hey,

So uh yeah we have a double baptism scheduled for today at 7:00!

Rei and Shun are their names and we met with them 4 times this past week and got everything taught and they are following all the commandments and everything. They passed their interviews on Saturday and came to church yesterday so they are 100% good to go. We are way excited for them and it should be a really good service. President and Sister McIntyre are coming also so we are a little nervous but it should go ok. I will get to baptize Rei and Suzuki will baptize Shun. It should be really great.

Monday - We had a lesson with Shun and Rei this night. We taught the last half of Lesson 2 and Tithing. The lesson didn't go as well as I hoped it would have but they accepted the commitment to pay tithing after being baptized. We did it at a members house and they fed us some way good food and did a good job in the lesson and helped us out.

Tuesday - We had a training mtg. for the District Leaders in the zone which was about working with members. We are going to try our best to get them to work with us a little better so we can get referrals. Hopefully it all works out and we can work together better since at the moment its pretty much just the missionaries but I think we can change that if we focus on it. Other than the mtg. we didn't have anything else.

Wednesday - We had a lesson in the morning with Hashimoto and taught about faith and desire. It went pretty well but he still isn't changing which is too bad. We had an appointment with Rei and Shun. We taught about The Gospel of Jesus Christ, 10 Commandments, Law of Chastity, Sabbath Day and Obeying and Honoring the Law. Yeah, it was pretty dang big lesson. They accepted it all which was pretty cool and the family we taught with fed us a bunch of Sushi and were great in the lesson.

Thursday - We worked hard all day but didn't have a lot of luck unfortunately.

Friday - Had an exchange with the ZL's. I got to go to an area called Sekime. Its right in Downtown Osaka and man.... IT IS HUGE. So many people there its crazy. It was a fun exchange and nice to get a break. I learned a lot from it.

Sat. - We had Rei and Shun's interviews for baptism and they both went through. After getting stuff planned with them we went out to dendo but not a lot of luck.

Sun - both Rei and Shun came to church which made it so they could be baptized the next day. They seemed pretty excited and the members were happy too. After church we had a meal with members which was pretty fun.

So yeah miracles happen. Even with this crazy stuff going on all transfer the Lord really decided to bless us here in Habikino. I am way thankful that I was able to teach these 2 awesome guys. They were so prepared and I didn't really do anything except for teach they accepted it all so quick. I just hope they stay strong after being baptized. It definately strengthened my testimony if we just work hard through tough times with faith and desire stuff will happen even if its the last P-day of the transfer. :) Our baptism is from 7:00 tonight and I will make sure to get pictures and send them to you next week.

For sure one of us is going to transfer but I have no idea who is going to go so I might be somewhere else next week.

Thanks for everything
Love you tons
Cam

Hey,

How is everyone doing? We went out to down town Osaka and ate out with a bunch of missionaries so this email is a bit later than normal. Akina, Murphy and a few other really good friends were there so it was a lot of fun and a good break.

It was both a good and bad week

Tuesday - We went in the morning to teach our 15 year old investigator Chihiro who was committed to the 12th for baptism. We were about half way through our lesson when he started to look really sick and his face went all pale and stuff. He said he wasn't feeling good so we just decided to end it right there and give him a break and come back another day. We called later that night to see if he was ok and to try to set up another appointment with him. His mom answered the phone and she said he was ok but she asked us to stop coming over and to quit teaching him. Pretty frustrating. What makes it worse is that his mom is a member and a RM but pretty against the church at the moment. No one in the ward really knows why so its a bit crazy.

Wednesday -
We rode our bikes way out to a more country side area that we had never been to before and visited our bishops house. Only his wife was there but we shared a quick message with her on the doorstep and went back. Other than that we tried really hard but didn't have any luck.

Thursday - Pretty much the same as Wednesday not much happened, streeted housed etc no luck.

Friday - We had zone conference which is always fun. We talked alot about finding and make natural conversations out on the street. Hopefully we can apply that in our own area so we can find more people.

Sat. - We got 2 referrals from the elders in the area next to us. They found these 2 college guys named Rei and Shun. They both went to church in their area once and accepted a date to be baptized. They lived in our area so they had to refer them over to us. We met up with the elders and Rei and Shun and went out to eat. We went to this pretty well known chain restaurant in Japan called sukiya. They have different dishes the one we got is called gyudon its rice with meat and onions pretty good. They have different sizes and one elder knew about a size called the King size that isn't even listed on the menu and we all decided to give it a try. IT WAS HUGE. I almost threw up but it was way fun. I didn't have my camera on me but I will try to get the pic from the other elders. Afterwords we went to the church and taught the 2 guys about plan of salv. and also Word of Wisdom. They both accepted to follow it even though they both love beer and Rei smokes but they are going to try to stop. Their date is next Monday so its way fast. Hopefully we can get everything taught and finished up before then so we are pretty excited. We have another lesson tonight at a members house and are going to teach Tithing. I really hope it all goes good.

Sun - We had normal church and then afterwords we got to go to our bishops house which was a ton of fun. We ate dinner over there and shared a message. The bishop here is one of my fav. so far. He is way nice and seems concerned about what is going on.

So yeah it was a pretty good week. Sad that we lost one person who was committed to baptism but we got 2 more. Who knows by this time next week we could be having a baptismal mtg.

Love you tons
Cam