Hello Everybody!!!
Thanks so much for your email mom! I am super excited to get your letter and Marissa's once I get to Sendai on Wednesday! It has most definitely been a crazy week to say the least! You are right on Mom, the news that Marissa may be coming to the beach with you guys is AMAZING news!!! :oD That smile is a little too small compared to the one on my face right now! My week has been very good but so very fast. I guess I will just start from Thursday, our zone had a specialized Training meeting at the Mission Home with President Daniels, there were two zones there and about 50 missionaries. I kind of knew it was coming because of last weeks email, but he Talked to us all and announced that all of the Sendai missionaries would be heading back on Wednesday. It was quite the shock to all of us, including President Daniels. To be totally honest, It is extremely bittersweet. I am super excited to go to Sendai because it was where I was called and everything, but this is my first mission and President Daniels has done so much for me and Elder Clinton is awesome! I know that it is the Lord's will, but I will tell you, when you work so hard in an area and you come to love a ward and your invesigators, its super hard to just...you know...leave. We are leaving on Wednesday though and it should be a crazy couple of days. I got a call from President Tateoka today and he told us our areas and companions. I am going to be serving in an area called Tsuruoka, it is on the far side of Honshu from Sendai but in the south of the mission. One interesting twist is that I am going to be in a threesome again! I will be paired with the Zone Leaders and their names are Elder Lay and Elder Ellis. I don't know Elder Ellis, but I know Elder Lay pretty well and he is awesome so I am really excited! On Friday we all get to go to Sendai and spend the day doing cleanup and stuff from the tsunami! I am pretty excited about that. My last week in Sapporo though has been full of ups and downs as far as the work is concerned. For whatever reason, our investigators that were super solid got flaky this week and their baptisimal dates fell through. It is tough because we worked so hard and prayed so much for them, but ultimately, everyone has their own agency and they must choose on their own. However, we had two miracles yesterday that I would like to share, the first is with a guy named Okada-san. Elder Clinton and I were standing outside the church building waiting for people to come in to church. This tiny little man in his 40's comes up behind us and asked us, "Is this Matsujitsu Seito Iesu Kirisuto Kyokai (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)?" We just a little confused said yeah it is. He asked if he could come to church and we said of course. We asked him if he had met the missionaries before and this is what happend. He pulled a Morumon Ke (The super old translation of the Book of Mormon in Japanese, now we have the Morumon Sho) out of his bag and says roughly, "I met the missionaries 21 years ago and they gave me this book. I have read this book and prayed for the past 21 years and I want to join this church." We probably looked like we had jus been slapped. We didn't really know what to say. We went on to ask him why he didn't join the church all these years, he said that he had some little concerns back then, but that through the Holy Ghost, the Lord had told him that he needed to join his church. We asked him why he thought our church was the true church and he responded that It is the only church that is lead by God through his Holy Spirit. We were so dumbfounded. We gave him a Morumon Sho, sat down with him, set a baptisimal date and that was it. He is getting baptised in two weeks from yesterday. Crazy huh!!! I will miss it, but It is none the less a miracle that one of Gods children is returning to his fold!!
The other miracle was very close to my heart. This transfer we have been meeting with this inactive family called the Henmi's. It is a mom and her two young sons. Her husband beat her and they have been hiding from him for years. They won't go to church because she has Post Tramatic Stress Disorder and is constantly paranoid that if they go to church her husband will find her. We have been doing these little FHE with them every single week doing little activities like puting on the Armor of God (you will get pictures of that eventually) and just stuff like that. This week, my last Sunday, the family came to Church!!!! We were so so shocked we had to double take when we saw them!! Seeing them back to church was the most amazing feeling!! There was so much joy in my heart to see them there! They gave me this Lavendar Doll with a little message on it. She said that the doll was given to her by her father before he died and now she was giving it to me because of all I had done for her family. I came so close to breaking down in tears I was so happy. Marissa will smile at this, but she wrote to me on the message, "Elder Page, your smile with mend the broken hearts of the people of Sendai..." There is a very special feeling to being a missionary. You truly can change peoples lives forever and that is an amazing thing. I know that this is The true gospel of Jesus Christ and that this gospel, when we choose to live it every day, will transform us into someone we could not be on our own. Leaving is hard, but I know that no matter where I go, if I am obedient and work my hardest, I will be blessed with Miracles every day. Never forget that you all are an everyday miracle to me. As long as you are in my life, I will see miracles every single moment. Mom, I love you and miss you so much, more than anything in the whole wide world I wish that every day I could have you there to make me give you a goodnight huge and kiss again! I love you all so much! I can't wait to let you know next week about all that happens when I get to Sendai! Until then, everybody have a wonderful week!! I love you all an I keep you in my prayers always!
Thanks so much for your email mom! I am super excited to get your letter and Marissa's once I get to Sendai on Wednesday! It has most definitely been a crazy week to say the least! You are right on Mom, the news that Marissa may be coming to the beach with you guys is AMAZING news!!! :oD That smile is a little too small compared to the one on my face right now! My week has been very good but so very fast. I guess I will just start from Thursday, our zone had a specialized Training meeting at the Mission Home with President Daniels, there were two zones there and about 50 missionaries. I kind of knew it was coming because of last weeks email, but he Talked to us all and announced that all of the Sendai missionaries would be heading back on Wednesday. It was quite the shock to all of us, including President Daniels. To be totally honest, It is extremely bittersweet. I am super excited to go to Sendai because it was where I was called and everything, but this is my first mission and President Daniels has done so much for me and Elder Clinton is awesome! I know that it is the Lord's will, but I will tell you, when you work so hard in an area and you come to love a ward and your invesigators, its super hard to just...you know...leave. We are leaving on Wednesday though and it should be a crazy couple of days. I got a call from President Tateoka today and he told us our areas and companions. I am going to be serving in an area called Tsuruoka, it is on the far side of Honshu from Sendai but in the south of the mission. One interesting twist is that I am going to be in a threesome again! I will be paired with the Zone Leaders and their names are Elder Lay and Elder Ellis. I don't know Elder Ellis, but I know Elder Lay pretty well and he is awesome so I am really excited! On Friday we all get to go to Sendai and spend the day doing cleanup and stuff from the tsunami! I am pretty excited about that. My last week in Sapporo though has been full of ups and downs as far as the work is concerned. For whatever reason, our investigators that were super solid got flaky this week and their baptisimal dates fell through. It is tough because we worked so hard and prayed so much for them, but ultimately, everyone has their own agency and they must choose on their own. However, we had two miracles yesterday that I would like to share, the first is with a guy named Okada-san. Elder Clinton and I were standing outside the church building waiting for people to come in to church. This tiny little man in his 40's comes up behind us and asked us, "Is this Matsujitsu Seito Iesu Kirisuto Kyokai (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)?" We just a little confused said yeah it is. He asked if he could come to church and we said of course. We asked him if he had met the missionaries before and this is what happend. He pulled a Morumon Ke (The super old translation of the Book of Mormon in Japanese, now we have the Morumon Sho) out of his bag and says roughly, "I met the missionaries 21 years ago and they gave me this book. I have read this book and prayed for the past 21 years and I want to join this church." We probably looked like we had jus been slapped. We didn't really know what to say. We went on to ask him why he didn't join the church all these years, he said that he had some little concerns back then, but that through the Holy Ghost, the Lord had told him that he needed to join his church. We asked him why he thought our church was the true church and he responded that It is the only church that is lead by God through his Holy Spirit. We were so dumbfounded. We gave him a Morumon Sho, sat down with him, set a baptisimal date and that was it. He is getting baptised in two weeks from yesterday. Crazy huh!!! I will miss it, but It is none the less a miracle that one of Gods children is returning to his fold!!
The other miracle was very close to my heart. This transfer we have been meeting with this inactive family called the Henmi's. It is a mom and her two young sons. Her husband beat her and they have been hiding from him for years. They won't go to church because she has Post Tramatic Stress Disorder and is constantly paranoid that if they go to church her husband will find her. We have been doing these little FHE with them every single week doing little activities like puting on the Armor of God (you will get pictures of that eventually) and just stuff like that. This week, my last Sunday, the family came to Church!!!! We were so so shocked we had to double take when we saw them!! Seeing them back to church was the most amazing feeling!! There was so much joy in my heart to see them there! They gave me this Lavendar Doll with a little message on it. She said that the doll was given to her by her father before he died and now she was giving it to me because of all I had done for her family. I came so close to breaking down in tears I was so happy. Marissa will smile at this, but she wrote to me on the message, "Elder Page, your smile with mend the broken hearts of the people of Sendai..." There is a very special feeling to being a missionary. You truly can change peoples lives forever and that is an amazing thing. I know that this is The true gospel of Jesus Christ and that this gospel, when we choose to live it every day, will transform us into someone we could not be on our own. Leaving is hard, but I know that no matter where I go, if I am obedient and work my hardest, I will be blessed with Miracles every day. Never forget that you all are an everyday miracle to me. As long as you are in my life, I will see miracles every single moment. Mom, I love you and miss you so much, more than anything in the whole wide world I wish that every day I could have you there to make me give you a goodnight huge and kiss again! I love you all so much! I can't wait to let you know next week about all that happens when I get to Sendai! Until then, everybody have a wonderful week!! I love you all an I keep you in my prayers always!
Love Always, Elder Zachary Taylor Page
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