Week 105: June 25, 2018

I want to express my gratitude for each of you for following along throughout this amazing journey. I truly have felt your love and support during my mission.

I got to see my friend, Cody Wong, this Sunday. He's been working here for the summer and he attended our ward on Sunday! Really cool to have been able to catch up with him!

This past week, I have truly been blessed to witness so many miracles that the Lord had in store for us. Firstly, our investigator, Philip, came to church again. We had two baptisms this past week in our district. What a blessing to witness these children of God make this covenant with Him. Philip was able to attend one of the services and truly felt the spirit. He says that getting baptized is something he wants to do! Secondly, we got a call from a young man named Jimmy. He had been coming to church for a while but had declined taking the discussions. We decided to really get to know him and become his friend. Over the course of 6 months of being here and many years of being fellow shipped, this week marked a significant change. He decided to pray on his own about the church and what God wanted him to do. He called us out of the blue and said, "Elders, I want to take the discussions and get baptized!" After we picked our jaws off of the floor, we expressed our excitement for him and told him we would do whatever we could to help him along that journey. Thirdly, we were able to meet with Teresa, another friend who has been coming to church but declined the lessons. She asked if she could have us over for dinner and a lesson! We were able and happy to do so. I am truly grateful for all of these miracles! Even though we hadn't seen such intense miracles all day everyday, we worked hard and recognized the little miracles and blessings each day and God handled the rest.

I truly love these people. I will miss them all. The Bay Area has truly captured my heart and I hope to have left a lasting impact here with those that I've had the opportunity to meet. I love the Lord. I have come to know Him much better and apply the gospel more and more in my life. I'm grateful for the time I've had to lose myself and serve others. I look forward to seeing you all soon!

-Elder Kaitoku 

Week 95: April 30, 2018

So, if you've been following the Chronicles of Elder Kaitoku for a while now, you'll remember that I went through a little phase where apparently, I couldn't ride a bike. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Well, the bar couldn't get any lower...could it?" WELL. This week, we learned the answer to that. Apparently, I can't even run properly. While going on a morning run with my companion, I ran full speed into a log that had been propped over the guardrail and was covered with leaves so I couldn't see it. It stopped my forward progression quite effectively, bringing me to a full stop. Not only that, but it knocked me off my feet. Now you might be thinking: "Well, at least it was early in the morning and no one else was there to see it, right?" Well, if that was your thinking, you would be wrong. There was a LONG line of cars that were there to witness this event. My USELESS COMPANION just laughed at me. Maybe I'll try crawling from now on. 

Other than that, this has been a great week. We found a new investigator named Ruth. She had previously met with missionaries back in Oregon and when she moved here, they referred her to us. She is pretty open to meeting with us and learning more about the gospel. She also lives in the same place as a member of the ward named Chris! He has been a great friend to her and now answers her questions about the gospel and helps her to know more about its importance and how it has changed his life. 

We got to sing again at the Visitor's Center which was a great experience. 

It's been a great week and I hope you all had a great week as well! 

Until next week,

-Elder Kaitoku