Fam,
Hello family! I hope you`ve all had a great week! Mine has been absolutely crazy!
We packed our bags and shipped them off last Preparation Day and went up to the Ninja City before heading back down to Osaka Sakai. The Ninja museum and stuff was way cool but everything was super expensive! We got to see the Ueno Castle too which was really cool. I`ll send some really cool pictures in a little bit!
Back to the everything-was-expensive-in-Ninja-City part, my companion and I blew through all the money we had and we had about a three hour train ride to Osaka that we didn`t know how we were going to pay for. We had a few dollars for the short trip back to Nabari but that was about it. One of the other missionaries gave us about $10 before we left so that got us that far. On the train we were wondering how in the world we were going to get to Osaka after the train switch in Nabari. I said a little prayer on the train and just asked Heavenly Father if there was any way he could help us get to Osaka. After I prayed I remembered that I packed my coin pouch in my carry on bag that I had with me and I felt like I should check it again even though I KNEW I only had a few cents in there. I got the pouch out and opened it up and low and behold, a 500 yen coin was right there in plain sight. I don`t know how it got there. I really don`t. All I know is angels watch over missionaries and we were able to get to Osaka by the hair on our chins.
It was really crazy having to start from zero again in a new area. Because we left Nabari so fast we had to leave our bikes there too and we couldn`t bring them with us so this week we`ve just been on foot. Its been pretty tough because the only place to find people, the Sakai Higashi Eki, is the only place to find people and it`s about an hour walk or so from our apartment. After making this walk several times this week my body was just about ready to quit. I was sore, tired, and complaining. I was praying one night and I just told Heavenly Father, `Look, I`m doing everything I can, I can barely keep myself up on my knees right now, but I know you can make me strong, I don`t want to be tired and sore anymore and I don`t EVER want to complain again. Please help me.` My mind was immediately drawn back to my first day in the field, on the train heading to Akashi with S 長老. The train was crowded and during one of the stops a lady pushed her father onto the train in a wheelchair. I couldn`t help but look at the man`s eyes and see despair. This man couldn`t walk but I saw hope. I felt so much compassion and love towards this man and I was drawn to recall my own circumstances and how blessed I really am to have what I have. I remembered thinking of what a blessing it was that I could just walk. The Lord has blessed me with the strength to stand on my own. As I remembered this experience during my prayer I apologized for my pethetic complaining. I am so blessed in my life. No matter how tired, sore, or hungry I get I will never complain again because I have been blessed so much. The Lord really does send angels to protect and watch over his missionaries.
Sakai has been really great. Its nice to get back to the city where we always have a lot of people to talk to. The city itself is pretty dirty but its alright because the people are what matter. We`ve been doing nothing but finding this past week and the Lord blessed us with three new investigators! Two of which came to stake conference yesterday! The Sakai Church is the Stake Center of the Osaka Sakai Stake so it`s almost a Utah sized building which has been awesome! Its quite the contrast from our last area where we were on the fourth floor of an office building with about 15 members. Now we have fifty and they are all awesome! I`m really excited about the opportunity to serve in this area!
So I have a cool experience from last night. I was wasn`t really feeling that great and I was a little sick to my stomach as we went to bed. I couldn`t sleep so I kept just getting up and walking around or just going through some of my pictures. I finally tried to get some sleep but something was keeping me awake. I decided I would go grab a drink of water and see if I couldn`t go to sleep after that. I walked in the kitchen and noticed a flickering blueish light coming from the corner of the room. I really couldn`t tell what it was but as I got closer I saw that it was the stove still turned on under a pot that had been left from earlier in the evening. If that would have stayed on we would have burned our apartment to the ground. I was so glad that the spirit kept me awake and prompted me to see what was wrong. I know that the Spirit can guide us if we just listen and now I have an experience to back that up.
I`m doing great. I love life and I can`t believe I`m almost 1/4 done with my mission. Its crazy how fast time flies in the mission field. I love you all and I hope you`re having a great week! I read Mosiah chapters 2 and 3 this morning and I absolutely loved it. I`d recommend reading there if you all have time this week! Godspeed!
Love,
Elder Giles
P.S. GO SEAHAWKS
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