Week 63: September 11, 2017

This past week was a great week. I have a new companion, Elder Selli. He is from Fredericksburg, Virginia. We have been getting along very very well. The Elbirt family is still doing great. We are hoping to meet with them again this week. We spent most of the week helping Elder Selli get to know both wards, the leadership, the members, and the general area. 

When we did service at the farm this past week, we were instructed to help spread the food around the field rather than just dump it in one pile. Being the young men that we are, we built two forts from the cardboard boxes and proceeded to have a massive food fight from across the field. Casualties were limited. Injuries were nursed. Clothes were dirtied. It was a really great time. Unfortunately a lot of the food is donated food that is very expired. That made it all the more fun. I can now check "participating in a food fight" off of my bucket list.

We continue to push and work hard in this area. The amount of miracles and blessings and success that we've seen in this area is nearly unheard of. I am really excited. My district is full of good, hard-working missionaries who have helped to turn this place around greatly. I look forward to next week! Sorry for the short email! Love you all!

-Elder Kaitoku

Week 62: September 4, 2017

For those of you who know who E40 is, just know that he lives out in our area. For those of you who don't know him, he's a famous rapper, fairly well off. In addition, Steph Curry isn't too far away either. Based off of those two things, it should be quite clear that this area is fairly...well off. That being said, the missionary work often times goes a little slower than other areas. Many people who have a lot usually don't feel like they need something like the gospel. That being said, it's been a difficult past 2 transfers in terms of finding and other missionary efforts. However, it was amazing to see our efforts pay off this week. 

We were able to go to the Visitor's Center with a family of investigators that I mentioned in last week's email. They had a great visit and we really felt the spirit with them. We were also able to set a baptismal date with them for early October! It was really warming to see this family's excitement and willingness to commit to baptism.

In the other ward that we cover, we, or any missionaries previously, haven't been able to find a new investigator in the last 9-12 months. It's been kind of a dry spell. However, this past week, we were able to find a new investigator. We were going through some old records and found a few former investigators that we felt had a lot of promise. We visited one in particular, Ryan and he was very welcoming and said he would be more than willing to meet with us again.

It has been an amazing week. I am thankful for the blessings and miracles we've been able to see. (speaking of blessings...) my companion is being transferred away. My new companion will be Elder Selli. From what I hear, he is a good missionary and a hard worker. I look forward to working with him. 

Also, attached is a video of me breaking a watermelon with my head. Enjoy.

-Elder Kaitoku​

Week 61: August 28, 2017

This past week has been a pretty average week in the life of a missionary in the Danville area. If I had to describe it as a T-Shirt size, it would be "Extra Medium". Hahahaha just kidding. 

There is a family that we've been working with for a while. We haven't been able to meet a whole ton due to it being summer and schedules being crazy. Now that school is starting, the schedules are a bit more set and so we are planning on going to the Visitor's Center out in Oakland with them. We are super excited. The V.C. is a really great instrument in helping people feel the spirit and progress in their conversion. 

Aside from that, we are also working with the youth more now that school is starting. We've got a couple of activities lining up to meet with them to talk about missionary work and activities to get their friends interested. Looks like I gotta start appealing more to the youngins out here. *ahem*

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yeaaaaah I still got it. It wasn't too long ago that I graduated high school y'know. 

#everydayimshufflin! yeeaaahhh whoo whooooo (is that still a thing...?) I'm not old! I'm still young! I'm still hip! I'm cool! I got $WAG! hahaha but on a real note, every time I work with the youth or just talk to them, I feel so old. High school wasn't THAT far away was it?

Well that's all for this week. Until next week! 

Your super hip super cool and young and relate able missionary,

-Elder Kaitoku