日本! Week 3

Happy Preparation Day fam!

I love how Mom and Dad are Ute fans for Halloween! Haha it made my day. Those pictures of Jake Kocherhan`s baptism made me cry. I`m so happy for him! Tell him I wish him the best and for him to get ready for the mission field! That`s seriously so cool! Big S/O to Koch! This week has been great. Juliet has a bent rim so the front wheel doesn`t move freely making it twice as difficult to ride. Awesome right? So a few night`s ago we were about to head back to our apartment for the night, it was about a half our ride or so, when this sweet old lady came up and started talking to me, asking where I was from and stuff like that. We started to talk to her and she just kept going on and on and on. She was super curious about our church and what we were doing as missionaries and she gave us her phone number and address so we could go talk to her a little bit next week. Finally I`m looking at Shinohara 長老 like, `dude, we gotta go`. We said goodbye and were able to get out of there at 8:52, mind you, we have a thirty minute ride back home and we have to be there by 9:00 AND my bike has a bent rim. We flew out of the train station and tore down the street for our apartment. Seriously flying, like I was passing cars and scooters and whatever the heck else they drive here. It was crazy! My legs were burning but I knew we had to try our absolute best to be obedient. At 8:58we were halfway home. Dodging traffic and pedestrians, I finally lost sight of my companion, he`s Japanese and rides his bike at about 50 mph wherever we go. So I`m just praying so hard that the Lord might bless me to not get TBoned by a car or to run over a small child. Finally we made it back to our apartment in one piece at 9:04. Late. We gave it our best though. I`ve never been so exhausted in my life. Thirty minute ride in just over twelve. I couldn`t help but think of Christ though, no matter how much we try or how much pain and struggle we go through, it`s nothing compared to what Christ went through in the Garden and on the cross. Obedience is what we give him in the mission field as his servants. We got on our knees when we got inside and told Heavenly Father we gave it our best and asked for forgiveness for being late. I think we were forgiven this time. I hope we baptize that sweet old lady. This week has been great. President and Sister Zinke came to our zone on Wednesday for interviews and training. It was awesome. I don`t know what this mission would do without President Zinke. He seriously has so much revelation available for us and makes us want to hasten the work so badly. We had a great interview and he told me I was progressing faster with everything than is typically normal so I was super stoked! My Japanese is improving so much every day. My companion is the greatest ever. He teaches me everything. Our investigator is getting baptized next Sunday and I get to baptize him! I`m so excited! I memorized the baptismal prayer in Japanese this morning. I seriously can`t wait. The work is progressing here. I`m so glad to be a part of it. I`m so glad to be a missionary. I thank the Lord every time I pray for sending me to this amazing place. I`m trying to make you proud fam! I hope you have a great week! 

All my love,

Giles 長老