Week 85 - May 27, 2013

Hello! 

It's good here in the mission home. This week we've had a good amount of time outside talking with people and it's been a lot of fun. We have a bunch of really good investigators and with just a few more we'll be able to teach over 20 lessons a week, something we're striving for as a mission. One of our investigators, Hara-san, was baptized on Sunday. He's been taking lessons for 3.5 years and it showed in his gospel knowledge. I'm really glad he finally decided to make the commitment and be baptized, he'll be a great member. I'll attach a picture.

This week we have a conference with all of the second transfer missionaries and their trainers as well as a conference with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders. This transfer is especially busy because President Budge has interviews with each missionary, Elder Ringwood (Area Presidency) is doing a mission tour, and the mission is splitting after this transfer. We're getting by pretty well so far but I'm sure things will continue to get busier and busier.

In good news, my debit card worked today. Before the machines wouldn't accept it, it never let me get to the entering pin stage, but today it worked.

I went on exchange to an area called Kofu, out in the country. It's the first time I've ever really left the city my entire mission. It was really beautiful. We gardened a little with a less-active member from Washington. I'll attach a picture.

We're continuing to meet with Arvin, the Filipino boy I wrote about last week. He's doing great and we hope he can be baptized soon. He has work on Sundays so we're trying to help him to keep the Sabbath Day holy. He really wants to attend church. There's a scripture in the Bible, “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?” (John 1:35–38). Arvin is one of the most humble seekers of righteousness I've ever met. He's so sincere in his desire to know truth and follow God. He truly just wants to follow God and be a blessing to his family.

Have a great week, I love you!!!
Elder Rindlisbacher

P.S. I've cut my own hair my entire mission and I finally messed up and took a good chunk out... thus my buzzed head. But, it's almost summer and it's nice to not have hair anyway! I actually like it a lot.

                                                  Hara San's baptism

 
   Gardening with a member in Kofu

Week 84 - May 20, 2013
 
Aloha!
Things are busy here in the mission home. We're always, always, always working. This is the first time I've been in a three person companionship and it's a lot of fun. We each have a computer and phone so it's really nice when it comes to following-up with investigators or getting other work done. We can get a lot done at once -  email and call investigators while calling and talking with missionaries and doing other work, and still have someone to cook dinner.

We're teaching an 18 year-old Filipino boy named Arvin. I think I told you a little about him over Skype. We were able to meet with him three times last week and we'll have another lesson today. He is super nice, has very pure and sincere desires, and a lot of faith. He's very sensitive to the spirit. He feels it often and is getting very good at recognizing it. Our first meeting with him was last Monday, the day I transferred here. We met him at the station and walked to the church to give him a tour. He loved being in the chapel and as we walked to the baptismal font he was asking if he could be baptized. His family doesn't seem very well off and he really wants to help them and improve his life. During our second meeting it was about to start raining so we just went into a McDonalds by the station. We taught him the gospel of Christ, basically the fourth article of faith. He committed to pray and repent of sins. We called the next day to follow-up and he said he prayed and felt the holy ghost very strongly. We met with him for the third time a few days ago and taught him about the Restoration and Book of Mormon. It was a great spirit-filled lesson. After the closing prayer the spirit was especially strong and Elder Olson asked him how he was feeling. He opened the Book of Mormon and read a verse. That verse happened to be Mosiah 18:11, "And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts." He said that's exactly how he feels and he was absolutely amazed that he just opened the book to that verse. It was a miracle.

We have a bunch of other strong investigators and should be seeing a few of them receive baptism soon. We have one investigator preparing for this next Sunday.

I encourage you each to personally read the Book of Mormon. Finish it before I get home! I will add more to what we're doing here already and I'll read along with you. But I'll read in Japanese.

I was wondering if you could check if there's something wrong with my debit card. The machines here won't accept it for some reason anymore. Could you check it out and let me know?

Have a great week! Let me know if there's anything you want to know, etc. I love you!!!

Elder Rindlisbacher

Week 82 - May 7, 2013 

Aloha!
Things are going great here in Kanagawa. A couple recently finished their mission and a new couple, the Addington's, have come into the zone. Elder (Forest) Addington was a military chaplain for 15 years. They most recently lived in Fresno, California and say they are very good friends with Uncle Curtis! It's a small world in the church.

Speaking of missions beginning, my return date's been changed. Beginning in August, returning missionaries will return on Fridays instead of Tuesdays, so instead of Oct. 29, I'll be going home on Nov. 1. I've been a missionary 19 months now and it's going way too fast.

This past Thursday we had the first ever mission leadership council. Elder Cody Rindlisbacher wrote a little about it in his letter. This is in place of what used to be zone leader council. There is a new calling in the missions: 'sister training leader.'  So at mission leadership council, President, the assistants, zone leaders, and newly called sister training leaders all meet to discuss the needs of the mission and how we can further the work. It was great. I'm so grateful to have such great leaders.

Yamate Ward, a ward in our zone, held an open house from Friday to Sunday. They have a very nice church building with a good location on a pretty famous road. Apparently it's where the first foreigner communities were first established in Japan. Now it's a popular tourist attraction for the Japanese people. This past week was Golden Week here in Japan, a week of holidays, so there was a lot of people walking down the street. Elder Hill and I were able to coordinate with the zone as well as a few other couple missionaries from the mission and have about 10-14 missionaries there throughout the open house. We ended up being able to get just over 600 people through the church for tours.

Watabe Sensei met us there on Saturday and took Elder Hill and I to lunch at a good Chinese Restaurant. It's in a place near the Yamate church called Chukagai. Watabe Sensei said it's the largest Chinatown in the world. It was big.

Kotsubo was confirmed on Sunday and interviewed for the priesthood after church. He should receive the Aaronic Priesthood this next Sunday. His countenance has been changing a lot. I see him smile very often now, whereas I would maybe get a smile out of him once a meeting. The holy ghost and the church will be so great for him.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview an investigator in the zone for baptism. Going into the interview I was prepared for something to come up because the elders teaching him had said a little about how he may have committed a serious crime in the past. All of the other interviews I've done have begun with a lot of BRT (building relationships of trust) where we talk about our families, hobbies, etc., because they're usually very nervous and I like to wait until they're calm and there's a nice feeling in the room before beginning the interview. So most of the interviews I've done have lasted about 45 minutes. With this interview the investigator was very serious and ready to begin so it only went about 20 min. As we were going through the interview the investigator talked about how he hadn't committed any serious crimes as pertaining to the law, but he had participated in two abortions. That was about in the middle of the interview, so we continued on through the rest then went back to that. I talked with him about how I don't have the authority to handle cases where there's been participation in abortion so he'd need another interview with another leader. We talked about repentance and I shared a few scriptures. It was a humbling experience for me. It was the first time I've interviewed someone and not been able to say that they could be baptized. I shared 2 Nephi 25:26, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write  according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” and testified of being cleansed through Christ. I shared a scripture I had read that morning, Mosiah 27:25-26, “And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” With that I focused on 'becoming new.' Elder Holland once spoke about repentance being related to a post and a nail. The post representing us and the nail sin. We sin and the nail is driven into us. Through repentance, though often difficult, the nail is removed. Removing a nail from a post would leave a hole that would always be there. However, complete repentance through the atonement of Christ is not like that. There is no hole left in the post, because it is not the same post. It is a brand new post. I testified that complete repentance and baptism would render him a completely new person, with no mark left whatsoever, and urged him to continue to work hard and do all he could to receive baptism. We closed  with his prayer and it was very spiritual. After walking out of the room we talked with the other elders for a few moments and called President Budge. President said that he would be able to interview him over the phone, did so right then, and told him that he would be able to be baptized! They're preparing the service for this Saturday.

That investigator’s story is a great miracle as a whole. He's been Christian for awhile and has been going to a Protestant Church. He met the missionaries a while ago and took a Book of Mormon. He wasn't very willing to listen to what they had to say or set up another time to meet, but did end up taking a Book of Mormon. A while after that he opened it and began reading. He knew right away that it was true. Shortly after that he saw the elders, by now another set,  standing in front of a train station. He went up to them and told them that he wanted to learn and be baptized. That was about four weeks ago. Talk about the power of the Book of Mormon, as well as the humble knowing the truth when they see it.

Today we had the opportunity to attend the temple, always an amazing learning experience.

Mother's Day is coming up so you'll be able to call if you'd like. We have 40 minutes, so I was thinking of having you call from 8:00-8:40 pm Monday night. That would be 3:00 pm on Tuesday for me. That would be the day after Mother's Day, but maybe it could be a good family home evening. Let me know what you think soon. I'll check email quickly again on Saturday (Friday for you.) The number to call is: 011-81-80-2149-6155.

Anyway, all is great here. It sounds like you're all doing great. Keanu's fifth grade trip looks like it was a lot of fun! He's getting old. It's too bad Keawe's volleyball team didn't make the state tournament. What will he be doing now? Just prepare for basketball? I hope the Brantley's are doing okay. Let me know what I can do to help with anything. I love you!!!

Elder Rindlisbacher

Week 81 - April 29, 2013

 

Aloha everyone,
I hope you're all doing great. Today marks the first day of the last six months of my mission. It's gone by so fast, and it's been so great. I want to do everything I can to ensure that this six months is the best six months. I've been thinking about it, and setting a lot of good goals.

We had a great week here in Kanagawa. I'm having a great time with Elder Hill, he's a great missionary. It's cool knowing that our families have connections aside from us being companions.

This past Tuesday to Wednesday I had the opportunity to go on companion exchange with Elder Robb from Spanish Fork, UT. Elder Call (my last companion) is actually his uncle's brother. He's a new missionary and has been here for about four weeks now. He's a very athletic guy, but very shy when it comes to stopping and talking to people. He's working hard to break out of his shell.

Elder Hill and I were able to go on exchange with Elder Olson, one of the assistants to the president, this past Friday to Saturday. He's a great missionary and we had a great time. We had a lot of time to find more people to teach, and as we did so we tried to work a lot on unifying as a companionship. We did a good job. There's a lot of power when companions are unified and build off of each other well.

The next morning, one of our investigators, Kotsubo, was baptized. It was a great baptismal service with a bunch of members present. Kotsubo is a very shy, quiet guy, who doesn't open up very much, but it was very easy to tell that he was very happy. This weekend was stake conference so he'll be confirmed this next Sunday in sacrament meeting. He's a great guy. He comes to church each week about an hour early and sits in the chapel reading the Book of Mormon. We were able to get one of the single adults in the ward to baptize him. He's 19 and the stake president's son, but not too fired up to serve a mission. He isn't against it, just not too much for it either. He's never really talked with or built a relationship with Kotsubo, but Kotsubo said he was fine with anyone baptizing him. He was super nervous when we asked him, but he did it, and he did a great job. We felt his joy and his fire to share the gospel grow. I'll send a few pictures.

So this weekend we had stake conference. It was amazing. I wish I could have recorded some of the talks to send to you. Elder Ringwood, Area Presidency, and Elder Otahara, newly called to be an area president, were in attendance and spoke. President and Sister Budge also came and spoke. Elder Ringwood gave a phenomenal talk on the priesthood. What is the priesthood? Explained simply, the priesthood is a gift from God meant to bring blessings to families. Elder Ringwood spoke of priesthood keys in the church, one of the reasons we need the church. We absolutely need the church to perform absolutely essential ordinances that require priesthood keys. He also spoke of how the priesthood functions fully in the home without priesthood keys. There is no need for keys to gather the family for prayer or to have a gospel discussion known as family home evening. The father and mother in a home should work equally and together with that. The priesthood should be the strongest in the home. At the end of his talk he had Sister Budge stand next to him and he asked her a question. It was a very powerful question. She had spoken on love at home and said that she loved her husband, President Budge. President Budge had also said in his talk that he loved Sister Budge. Elder Ringwood asked her, “Do your children know that their father loves their mother? How?” The question can be asked oppositely as well, “Do your children know that their mother loves their father? How?” It was very powerful. We all need to understand what the priesthood is.

After that Sunday Session of stake conference Elder Ringwood held a devotional for the young men/women and single adults. That was great as well. He urged and urged everyone to keep the commandments, for in that is safety and peace, just as the hymn (#303) says.

During the Sunday Session there was also a 17 year-old speaker. He and his family are from Utah, but they've lived in Japan for a while. He's 17, but he recently received a mission call to serve in the Japan Fukuoka Mission. It's amazing to see 17 year old young men, preparing and prepared to serve full-time missions. Younger sisters are also entering the field. The work is hastening.

I saw Watabe Sensei yesterday. He said he saw you a little while ago on Maui and that Bishop Brantley was moving so the bishopric would be reorganized soon. I guess that's probably happening right now.

This morning Elder Hill and I got up 4:30 am and went over to Kawasaki, one of the areas in our zone. Both of the Kawasaki Elders’ birthdays are coming up, so we got to their apartment at 6:45 am, while they were doing their morning workout, and made breakfast for them. My zone leaders a few transfers ago did that for me when my birthday was coming up. It was a lot of fun.

Today we also had zone p-day. We gathered at a park as a zone and played a bunch of sports. It was a lot of fun.

The work is great. The church is true. God lives. I hope you all have a great week! You're the best!

I love you!!!

Elder Rindlisbacher

P.S. Thank you for the pictures of Grandpa. I'm so glad to see him at church.

Week 80 - April 22, 2013

 

Hello!
The work's great. I have a great companion in a great area. We've been super busy lately as zone leaders trying to go on exchange with every elder in the zone.

We had a Three-Zone Conference (about 65 missionaries) this past Tuesday where Elder Hill and I trained on teaching simply. We made visual aids for each missionary and taught how to use them, went over how to begin lessons, and how to plan lessons effectively. The other two zone leader companionship's trained on following up daily and testifying powerfully and inviting boldly. The objective of the conference was 'becoming master teachers.'

On Saturday, an area in the zone, Kamiooka, had a baptismal service for two of their investigators. Elder  Coakley from the Big Island is training a new missionary there. The service was great. One of the investigators being baptized is about 20 years old. He used to play basketball with the missionaries twice a week, and eventually heard the lessons. The other investigator baptized is the mother  of a recently returned missionary (Elder Takahashi) who served in Hawaii. He served in Waiehu for a little while and knows the Nitta Family. He returned in March and was able to baptize his mom. The spirit was super strong. This is the gospel. Friend baptizing friend. Son baptizing mom.

Elder Hill and I were able to take one of our investigators who will be baptized this next Saturday, to the baptismal service. Today he passed his interview so we had him try on white clothes and started getting the program ready. He's a really, really  shy guy, so we helped him write his testimony down so he could share it at his service. It's very simple and says basically, I met the missionaries about two months ago. I wanted to know what kind of place church was. I learned the path to happiness through sacrament meeting and the missionary lessons. I felt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is important. I felt calm when I came to church. And I was able to repent. I feel I receive faith through reading The Book of Mormon. I feel like I can go to heaven. I look forward to the future with all of you. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

The time's going by quickly. Always remember what's truly important. I love you. Take care.

Elder Rindlisbacher