Week 90 - April 22, 2018 - Almost out of suits!

Hello everyone!

It's been a pretty solid week, and the energy around the mission is

picking up. As soon as the month ends, we will be out of suit season,

which for me will be the third and final time. That's a scary thought,

so we don't dwell on it much, but it is motivation to keep working

until the end.

In terms of real news, I can start with Nomoto, who is doing great. I

didn't get to explain much about him last week, buts he's been meeting

with the missionaries for about a month, comes to church every week,

including conference, and really just seems to understand the gospel.

We talked about the priesthood this week, and how it gives us the

authority to act as Gods hands on this earth, and he was way

intrigued. It's something he wants to prepare to receive even though,

to quote "that sounds like a lot of responsibility". So things are

progressing great, and now we are just waiting for him to get parent

permission, due to the fact that he is only 18. Thankfully, from what

we've been able to understand, they don't have anything against him

doing what makes him happy and brings him joy, in this case, the

everlasting joy of the gospel. It's, as always, a miracle to be able

to meet and associate with such wonderful people.

Other news from this past week was junkais, with some of the other

elders in the zone. We are again blessed to work with people that have

so much potential, that literally hold the ability to changes lives in

there hands. Sadly, some of the elders haven't 100% grasped how we

need to go about doing so. This leads to spending Friday going around

contacting and teaching with one of them. We were able to have a good

talk, and what it basically comes down to is doing not just the right

thing, but doing it for the right reason. As a missionary, from

everything I've seen and experienced, it would honestly be pretty easy

to just go stand and talk to hundreds of people each day. Might not be

fun, but there are so many of our brothers and sisters here it would

be relatively simple. But if your heart isn't centered on Christ, it

won't be more than that, simply talking. We find the power to go out

of our comfort zones, to connect with people, to grow through our

trials, to improve our lives and others, and we only find that by

focusing on Him who can achieve these things. It brings so much light,

yet, is so hard to teach. The entire theme reminds me of a quote given

by an early church leader when asked how they governed the church,

which is approximately as follows: "We teach correct principles, and

allow them to govern themselves". And, one from Elder Swapp,

"Motivating isn't taught, it's caught". Great thing to think about,

and some fun work personally and for the zone moving forwards.

Besides that, next week we get to go to the temple! The ward is having

a trip, and graciously offered to let us come along. With that said, I

don't know when emails will happen, but don't worry, I'll try to send

something!

Love you all!

Elder Woodhouse

Week 89 - April 16, 2018 - Mission conference and zone training!

To the best family and friends in the world!

This past week has been fairly hectic, in the best way possible. We

had a mission leadership conference in Fukuoka on Tuesday, gave a zone

training on Thursday, had junkais on Friday, and then things started

to move back to normal. So I've been bouncing all over, and it wasn't

really until Saturday, almost 10 days after I got up here, that I got

a real chance to work with Elder Valdivia. But it's been a party.

To start, MLC on Tuesday was a spiritual experience. All of the zone

leaders and sister training leaders from the mission gather to discuss

both the needs of our missionaries, and how the Lord is guiding us to

help them. So you have about 30 people, counting President and Sister

Egan, focusing on one thing, and this time, along with teaching

skills, the focus was on the Book of Mormon. As PMG states, 'the Book

of Mormon, combined with the spirit, is your most powerful tool in

conversion'. Thus, if we, or anyone we are blessed to meet, have a

desire to change our lives, to improve, to become better people, it is

done through the Book of Mormon. A lot of people were able to bear

witness of this, and it reminded me how powerful it is to literally

hold the word of God in our hands. This is one of many ways He speaks

to us, and there are many, many times when I've been able to feel

peace through it's words.

So we were able to take that, and bring it to the missionaries in

Kumamoto during Zone Training. As part of our training, we issued a

challenge which I've already been able to see benefits from. As a

zone, we are trying to have everyone read the Book of Mormon within

this transfer, which is an abbreviated 5 week period. I think it's an

example of raising expectations to raise results, because as people

have been reading, they've been working harder. I've noticed myself

changing small things, creating more time to work on what is

important, and it's an amazing change. And helped to slow the chaos of

our day to day lives down.

I think the other interesting thing from the past week was that Elder

Swapp and Elder Wheeler have passed their investigator to us, because

it turns out he lives in the Tsuboi ward. It's a crazy situation,

because Nomoto's baptismal date is next Saturday, and so I will barely

even end up teaching him. He's a prime example of someone looking for

the truth, and just to work with him has already built my faith.

Love you all, and keep being happy! Spring is a beautiful season, and

I can't wait to hear everything that's going on back home!

Love,

Elder Woodhouse

Week 88: April 9, 2018 - Kumamoto

For the first time in forever, hello from mainland!

I made it up to Kumamoto Thursday night, after only a short plane ride

and a bus trip off of Ishigaki. With the transfer, I went from a

district of 4 missionaries to 8, and a zone of 24 I'll meet on

Thursday during zone training meeting. And there are sister

missionaries! It's been 6 transfers since I've worked with anyone

outside my apartment, and now we've got all resources necessary at our

disposal. A huge city (relative to where I've been), lots of

missionaries, and a stellar ward from the people I've met so far. A

fun fact from that is my branch President from Omuta is actually a

member of the Shimizu ward, which neighbors Tsuboi, so when we met up

for Conference I got to meet him and his wife again. It's crazy to

think that it's been a year since I met them last. But I guess that's

how time works.

My companion now is Elder Valdivia, who is from Utah, but 1/4 Japanese

and 1/4 Peruvian. He's a way funny guy, really likes music and

basically everything, and we've got along great so far. Lots to learn

from him, and lots to accomplish. Because of Conference, we haven't

met that many of our investigators yet, but we did go dendo with a

recent convert, Yuichi Kyodai. Again, its a miracle to be able to

transfer, and be dropped into a place where the work continues without

a hitch.

In a similar fashion, as everyone has seen, watching President Nelson

be sustained as the Lords Prophet was amazing, and proceeded amazingly

smoothly. Under his direction, we have so many amazing changes coming

forth, focused on unity, repentance, and revelation, which I'm sure

will be the building blocks of our personal conversion and drawing

unto the Savior.

Besides that, honestly not much to report. It's an honor to be out,

and sharing my testimony every day is a blast!

Love you all,

Elder Mitchell Woodhouse

Week 87: April 2, 2108 - Transfers!

Hey everyone!

First, I hope you all had an amazing Easter! It's always fun to

assemble with family, and more that anything, have the opportunity to

remember the resurrection of our Savior. Truly, through His life and

sacrifice, death has no bounds, and the grave no sting. It is because

of Him, and the merciful plan created by our Father in Heaven, that we

can find hope and joy in this life, even when we find ourselves

journeying deep in the valley of darkness and despair. As I'm sure the

apostles have testified throughout General Conference, I would like to

add my voice in declaring that Jesus of Nazareth did rise from the

grave that first Easter morning, and does indeed live to this day,

lifting us up from every fall we have ever taken.

It's true no matter where you are, no matter who you are, and it's

something I've been able to see a lot of in Japan. Even if we just

look at this past week, the light is always at the end of the tunnel,

as long as you keep walking. Elder Smith and I met with Yamashiro and

Yuto, but had both of them fall through for coming to church again,

which always stings a bit. You spend so much time thinking about and

loving these people, only to watch what we know can help never

materialize. But even with that, as we dendoed that night, God was

guiding us. In one apartment, we met a self proclaimed 'prodigal

daughter', who was raised Christian, but experimenting and learning

from the world right now. How touching to know that God would reach

out to her, and that we were able to be those tools He used. Now she

knows, even a little more, that He does care for her, and always will.

The hope of the gospel is, of course, not something that just

magically materializes. To bounce back to Yuto, one of the commitments

we gave him was to not only read, but also take notes on the Book of

Mormon. When we came back, and he had done it, you could see that he

learned more. He was able to put another pebble towards the mountain

of faith that will help change our lives for good. In contrast, the

days people haven't read, they take a pebble away from that same

mountain. Small and simple, but it's how the gospel works. It's how

God works.

And with that, the last bit of small and simple news is that this will

be my last email from Ishigaki. On Thursday I fly out, leaving behind

Elder Smith, and will be starting in Tsuboi, an area in Kumamoto. It's

kinda near Omuta, from way back, and will be my first area of an

island in over a year! Pretty crazy, and scary! I've learned a lot

from the members down here, and so it's going to be hard to leave

them, especially Tagawa Kaicho, our branch president. Hard enough to

lose Ashimine Kaicho a few weeks ago, but now they are all gone. Both

of them taught me a lot about what it means to trust and respect, be

that other people or the Lord, so I look forward to keeping that skill

with me.

Lots of Love!

Elder Mitchell Woodhouse

Week 86: March 25, 2018 - March

Hello from Japan,

Some weeks it amazes me how much the Lord blesses us to accomplish. I

think one of the miracles from last week was the strength to push

onwards and keep biking, no matter where the Lord needed us to go. For

example, on Monday, Elder Hafen really wanted to go dendo out near the

airport, which is a 30 minute bus ride away. So, we pack up, bike out,

and spend the morning of pday handing out eikaiwa flyers to ever

building we can see. Pack back up, and start home, stopping at the

farm of one of our eikaiwa students to see how he is doing. As things

turn out, he actually isn't even home, but the Sekihara couple is, as

they live on his farm in the winter. They will be heading home to

Niigata this week, but we just got to talk with them, learn about

Japanese culture while enjoying the weather. But, the Lord wasn't done

guiding us, and Mr. Sekihara had actually been looking for a bible for

the entire five months he had been on Ishigaki. It was an amazing

experience to teach and testify not only of the divinity of Christ,

but of his role in our individual lives, and how we learn of that

though the Book of Mormon. And we returned home without sore legs.

That theme continued on Friday, when Elder Smith said we needed to

visit one of the members who lives on the Far East of our area. As

time would have it, we had a return appointment on the far west side

only about 30 minutes later, but not only did with visit with this

sister, who had been having an especially rough morning, but we also

made it across the city in time. Again, without physical fatigue.

I don't want to sit and sound like we have it rough, because our lives

as missionaries are extremely blessed. But those blessings of modern

comfort are multiplied tenfold as the Lord touches our lives with His

hands. Some days, it's as simple as that physical comfort, and others,

it's a deeper feeling, within the heart, of spiritual growth and

healing. I've been blessed to see that no matter the circumstance, as

the youth theme teaches this year, there is peace in Christ. Only

through His love and Endless Atonement, which were prepared by our

loving Father in Heaven, can we find the strength to push onwards in

our lives. He who knows all knows us perfectly, and through His plan

there will be a day when we gather together as families in joy

according to our faithfulness. I am grateful for the lifting power of

His love, and know that it is a true component of the only plan for

lasting happiness.

Love you all,

Elder Mitchell Woodhouse

Week 85: March 18, 2018 - Time does what it will...it flies!

Hey Everyone,

I'll be honest, I don't have much exciting news for the past week. It

feels like yesterday that I was sitting down to type our last email,

and now it's that time of week again. One week closer to Easter and

General Conference, and one more week with Elder Smith as my

companion. It's been amazing to watch the change in him as we've

worked more and more together. The first week he was here was really

hard, especially for him to focus on the work, but I think that the

past week was faster for him than for me. As he has dedicated himself

to serving God, and I've been able to follow suit, we have seen

miracles, including those internal changes to be a better and more

focused individual, striving to help all of those around us.

Some of those people are Yuto and Yamashiro, both of whom I have been

able to see the light of the gospel come into their lives. Yuto

actually met the missionaries three years ago, and every time he talks

about his experience, or church, or the Book of Mormon, it's with a

joyful memory. Yamashiro, I think I've mentioned before, has just

gained a brightness around him. And he can't even read the Book of

Mormon by himself yet, but has already noticed the effects of talking

and learning of Christ. But, our job and missionaries and members

isn't just helping those outside of the church, for missionary work is

nothing more than home teaching to others, and vice versa. So it's

also been fun to watch the missionaries in my apartment, Elder Hafen

and Elder Arpellida grow with me and Elder Smith. I think one of the

reasons I ended up being called to an island was because it's helped

me to see the influence that people play on each other. It is really

simple to teach, work, and enjoy time one on one, letting your light

shine and feeding off others when you live with all the missionaries

you work with! So between that and splits, working with everyone

individually, we are learning a lot.

Some of the other people we are blessed to work with are all of the

members on Ishigaki. We actually had branch conference on Sunday, so a

lot of people from the stake came to visit, but it was an amazing

spirit. Someone, I don't remember who, remarked that what the branch

lacks in members it makes up for in energy, and a feel that that is

100% true. No one here feels sorry that we don't have a 200+ person

ward yet, but they trust in the Lord, magnify whatever calling they

have to the extreme, and press on with a smile. Of sad news is our

branch president, Ashimine Kaicho, who is transferring off of the

island for work on Okinawa, in Naha. I've been able to learn a lot

from him since I got here, primarily because of the expectations he

has for us as missionaries.  He knows that we can do what the Lord

needs done, and has helped remind me of that every time we meet, which

in turn has pushed me to do better. It was his families last week, and

we are all sad to see them leave.

That's about it, but I do have pictures from this week! Love you all!

Elder Woodhouse