Lots of miracles, big and small...

Hey Mamma!! It was great to hear all about the Temple and stuff this week. I think that is the one thing I would change about this mission is I wish we had a temple. I guess that is my responsibility huh? ;o) Interesting the hear about Mormon.org because I havent even seen it. We dont use it and havent been told anything about it. They probably dont have it in Japanese. I dont know, but it all sounds super fun and effective! I had a great week. Things are just going well. We were blessed with a lot of miracles big and small. We have one investigator, his name is Isogawa Akira and he is almost ready for Baptism. He is a really really great guy who has been looking for truth his whole life and now that he has found it he is working hard to change his life. It is amazing to see. Sanders Choro and I were also blessed this week to, well, it is kind of a long story, but the shorter version is that Elder Sanders and I got to play in a Futsal Tournament this past week and this coming week. :oD There is an investigator who is on a team and a long story short President told us to go ahead and we played futsal. SUPER FUN!!! It felt SOOOOOOO good to play again and I honestly didnt lose...well, maybe I lost half a step in the past year, but I was still the same! In the second game they wouldnt let Elder Sanders and I play together because they said we were too good! hahaha It was a lot of fun and way funny to just play soccer with Japanese people. These people are so funny! Woke up and was pretty sore though thats for sure. ;o) There is snow on the ground pretty much 24\7 nowadays. It is cold. I dont really like it anymore. Have I mentioned that there is Zero centralized heating in Japan? Way good stuff. hahaha But, at least I am not Jordan puking out my lungs every couple of weeks from some crazy jungle sickness!! hahaha That is definetly something to be grateful for! Things are just kind of going though. Hump day is coming up and then the terrible change from "count up" to "count down" begins. Whew. You will be glad to hear that I am finally up to 100 health an I am warm most of the time. It was Elder Sanders, Elder Shaw, AND Elder Ikeda`s birthdays this past week. They are the other three missionaries here in Niigata so we were busy with Birthday stuff too. It was a good week even though I dont have much to tell. I have gotten a couple of Special Assignments from President that I will tell you about as they come about in the next couple of weeks, but for now this is about all I have. I am going to finish a tape and send that off with a memory card this week so I hope you enjoy that! Just something that I learned this week that really punched into my heart was something that Brigham Young taught. He said, "Think of this brethren and sisters. Write it down that you may refresh your memories with it, carry it with you and look at it often; If I judge my brethren and sisters, unless I judge them by the revelation of Christ, I have not the spirit of Christ; If I had I would judge no man." He went on to say "The interest of our brethren is our own interest, or you can never be saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God." I know these principles to be true. It is something that I am striving for and that we could all do better on. Lets all just try and look at EVERYBODY we meet and look at them in the way that God sees them, as his precious children. Take people as they are and understand them as they are and I can promise that as we do so, we will feel the love of Christ in our lives. Dont judge others. If we could see through the eyes of everybody we judged then we would never do it. Christ taught to Love one Another and for that teaching I am so very grateful. You guys are all a great example to me of these principles, especially you Mom and Dad. You two literally are the greatest and I love you so much. Mom thanks for the family card and the Beautiful Picture of Marissa in her apron. I loved it! One last thing, Dallin H. Oaks is coming to the Sendai Mission next month. :oD Way excited. Well, have a great great week everybody!!! I love you all so much!! Love always, Elder Zachary Taylor Page