Week 76: December 11, 2017

This past week was great. We issued a baptismal date for the Elbert family. We set the date for the 23rd of December and we told them the catch was that they had to read and pray every single day as a family until then. We will check in with them the Sunday


 before and see how everything is going and if things are going well, then we will have them baptized! Keep them in your prayers :) 

In other news, we got to do service at the farm again and that was pretty awesome. My district said that they didn't think I could pick up a lamb and put it across my shoulders. Well I did. If I don't have the picture yet, it's because I'm waiting for it to be emailed over. If I don't send it this week, I'll send it next week. We had one of our ward Christmas parties and we got to see a lot of Less Actives and Investigators/Non-members attend. There was also a great Christmas choir event where the Chamber Singers from the nearby high schools came and performed Christmas songs. It was really amazing! Two of the high schools apparently go back and forth when it comes to the state competition. 

With Christmas coming up, there is a lot of holiday cheer and it's been pretty nice to tract into people in a much less rude mood. It has been getting freezing, however, so that's been hard for me. Luckily I've got a nice coat to keep me warm. Not to mention the Spirit. 

Anyways, that's all for today, folks! Until next time!

-Elder Kaitoku

Week 75: December 4, 2017

This past week, I got to really get to know my companion, Elder Ward. He's from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He's been out for about 4 months now. He just came out of his first 12 weeks and his trainer was Elder Hing. Elder Hing is from the Big Island! Chee. He enjoys to ski and play tennis.

The holiday season is a great time of year for missionaries. Everyone is feeling the Christmas spirit and is very nice to us. Already, we've tracted into like 2 or 3 people who are friends with members of the church and have offered to give us food and water and a place to stop by if we're ever in the area. The "Light the World" initiative has been really great as well. One of the wonderful things about the Danville area is that there are always tons of events and parties that we can invite people to. There's a Christmas event where all the high school choirs in the area perform a few Christmas songs and the entire community comes out to that.

We've been working with a lot of people lately and have been trying to meet with them. The Visitor's Center at the temple has also been really great. There's a lot of awesome Christmas events up there all throughout the month as well. I even ran into a former investigator and members from one of my former wards. It was great to see them. 

We are planning on meeting with the Elberts and hopefully setting a baptismal date with them. We hope that they've been reading and praying. Fingers crossed that everything goes well! Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

-Elder Kaitoku

PS sorry about last week, my email spazzed out and sent out that message like 4 times or something.

Week 74: November 27, 2017

What an amazing week!

So transfer calls came around and as it turns out, I will be staying for a 5th transfer here in Danville! Wow! That is the longest I've been in an area. I am looking forward to spending the holiday season here with these people! Love this area. Elder Selli is going home this transfer, back to Virginia. He will be missed. In his stead, I am getting Elder Ward. I don't know much about him other than the fact that he is just coming out of his first 12 weeks or so. 

Our new mission policy is that from 4-6pm every Tuesday-Saturday, we will all be tracting. I must admit that at first, I wasn't all too thrilled about this. Our area has been pretty infamous when it comes to tracting. A few years ago, a stake president told missionaries not to and it became an actual rule. We would still tract but spent a lot of that time of 4-6 visiting with less actives, part member families, and investigators. However, our first night instituting this initiative, we were able to successfully make contact with a gentleman that we have been trying to make contact with for months. Additionally, we tracted into a guy who was like, "Oh hey Elders! Yeah we'd love to have you come by, my wife's best friend is a Mormon but we're about to go Black Friday shopping! Come by again!" Let me tell you, this has not happened before while I've been tracting here these past 6 months. I am loving this new initiative.

Other than that, Thanksgiving was pretty great. We played football. Ya boi intercepted the ball 3 times, had 3 receiving TDs, 1 passing TD, and hahaha jk jk. It was fun tho. We also got to play board games/card games as a zone that night. 

That's all for this week! What will Elder Ward be like? When will the Elberts be baptized?? How soon before Elder Selli gets married back home??? Find out next week on Dragonball Z hahaha 

-Elder Kaitoku

Week 73: November 20, 2017

Happy Early Thanksgiving Everybody!

Now with that being said, this week has been really great. Unfortunately, Elder Selli fell pretty deftly ill for a few days (he has a blood condition) and we weren't able to go out and do much. Luckily, the ward has been super supportive and loving, both wards. I am so thankful for all of the members who checked in on us and got us things that we needed to help him feel better and to get us food. Especially the food. I am thankful for food.
Earlier in the week, we did service at the farm that we go to weekly and whaddya know, we got to castrate those 16 piglets. Now, I don't know about those of you who have served missions, but this is precisely what I had in mind as I was filling out my mission papers. I just knew in my heart that this is exactly what missionary work is all about. If you haven't castrated a piglet on your mission, have you really truly even served a full time mission? Yeah, think about that for a bit. Anyways, that is an experience I will NOT be forgetting anytime soon. No matter how hard I try. 

...I can still hear their squeals...

Other than that, there are a lot of fun, interesting, and exciting events coming up at the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is such a great resource in missionary work and I am so glad that we have one in our mission. It's great to take members and nonmembers alike to the fun events there, especially with the Thanksgiving and Christmas season coming up.
With that being said, I am super thankful for all of you and your prayers and support. I am thankful for this opportunity to be on my mission and to serve the people here. 

Love ya and talk to ya later!
-Elder Kaitoku

Week 72: November 13, 2017

Elder Whiting, from the Quorum of the Seventy, visited our mission this past week. He gave a lot of very insightful advice and messages to the missionaries as well as at stake conference. One of the really cool analogies that he shared with us was relating the Holy Ghost to salt. If we came across an entire room full of people that had never tasted salt before in their life, it would be extremely difficult to explain to them in full detail through words alone what salt tastes like. We could get creative. We can say things like, "it tastes bitter" or "savory" but in the end, it's very difficult to really visualize what salt is and tastes like. However, if we were to have a bowl of salt, we could very easily have each person partake of the salt and know for themselves what it is. Likewise, when we have a lot of people who have never felt or recognized the spirit in their lives, it can be difficult for us to describe it accurately for them. We can quote scriptures, we can share experiences, but in the end, the best thing that we can do is to bring the spirit to them. When we, especially as missionaries, bring "salt" or the spirit with us to meetings, we are able to have people partake of the spirit and we can help them recognize that the feelings and impressions that they feel is the spirit. Be sure to bring "salt" with you everywhere you go.

As for the work out here, we have a new ward mission leader (newish) who's been really doing well to get the ward involved. We are constantly visiting those that require aid, assistance, and friendship. The Elberts (elbErts, not elbIrts as I've learned this week...hey she never corrected me in any of those texts, how was I supposed to know??) were in Miami this past week so we weren't able to meet with them.

Upcoming events, we've got a musical number this Thursday at zone conference. We are singing "Nearer My God to Thee" the Vocal Point rendition. Next Sunday, Elder Selli and I are doing a musical number "Refiner's Fire" because we done been bamboozled. A few weeks back, we were having dinner with a member of the ward and she innocently asked if we were musically inclined. We both humbly said that we did like to sing to which she exclaimed, "HA! I'm the ward musical coordinator!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA" or something like that. She said she would have to get us to sing in sacrament meeting someday. We thought she had forgotten about it until a few weeks later, she said she signed us up for the 19th.  

We done been punked.

Well, that's all from me today, I am glad I got to email a bit longer this week. Until next week!
-Elder Kaitoku

PS this week, we get to help castrate piglets. Yay. 

Week 71: November 6, 2017

Hey guys this is gonna be a quick email but here goes:

1. We had a great Halloween, we got to stay in and clean the apartment. Yay. We also dressed up but I don't have my camera right now so I'll send those pictures next week.

2. We had another temple day which was great as always.

3. The missionaries in the district/zone have really been shopping all P day these past few weeks hence the limited computer time so I apologize. There is a Nike outlet out here and there were some pretty impressive sales here lately. Plus, there's a member that works there that hooks it up for us.

4. We are working on a musical number as a zone and it is finna be LIT. I will have to send a recording next week!

5. Love you all! Sorry for the short email! B

Byeeeeeeeeeeeee

-Elder Kaitoku