Thinking Out Loud 🎸 ⛩ (Week 54)

Hello! How was everyone's week? This past week was a blast here in Yokosuka. With everything from bowling to basically swimming through the rain. The missionary life is great and I wouldn't have it any other way! For all those who aren't missionaries out there, I would recommend! It's been the best year of my life so far and things are looking greater and greater all the time.

This past week, we did a lot, but I'll share a couple of our adventures. Last Monday, we decided to go bowling on base again. I didn't play nearly as well as the previous week, but it was fun haha. In the evening, we had a lesson planned with our investigator Manuel. Long story short, the lesson fell through, so we hit the streets. Talked to some way cool people and made some good contacts. Tuesday was lots of Streeting and Japanese Class. Fun stuff. On Wednesday, we did a lot of Streeting during the day and had dinner with the Cribb family. They took us out to Chili's in base and it was actually the greatest thing ever. I had a bacon and cheese chicken quesadilla. I'm talking about "died and gone to heaven" kinda good. After dinner, we had a lesson with Josh, another one of our investigators. We talked a lot about baptism and the priesthood power and authority. It went pretty well. We were able to help him understand the priesthood power and why we need it and invite him to be baptized. Unfortunately he still doesn't think he needs to receive baptism again (after having received it several years ago into another church), but we are working closely with him and will be focusing a lot on building faith soon. Immediately after that lesson, we actually had a lesson with Manuel. We taught the Plan of Salvation and focused a lot on eternal families. He also randomly brought his wife along with as well, so it worked out great! They are an awesome couple though. He speaks no Japanese and she speaks no English. If that ain't true love, I don't know what is. The lesson went way well though, and we have high hopes for Manuel and his wife. The rest of the week was filled with lots of contacting and visiting members. Fun stuff. On Friday though, we had game night (to which Elder Thomson and I showed up soaking wet after biking half an hour through the pouring rain). We showed up a little late, but by the time we arrived, it had basically turned into a concert being performed by the other Elder's investigator, Kaito. He's a way big Ed Sheeran fan so he brought his guitar and put on a show for us. His favorite song just so happens to be "Thinking out loud", which he performed for us, and let me just say, kid's got talent. We're talking about starting a band but nothing is set in stone yet. I'll keep you posted on that. Fun week!

So thankful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. Most of the time, it's so fun that I forget to take pictures (sorry Mom), but just know that we are out here having a blast. I love you all and hope everyone has a great week. Go out and share the Gospel!