Alumni weekend!

This weekend was Alumni weekend. Dallin & Jaclyn came home for the weekend. As always it was so great having them here. They brought the newest member of the Page family...Abe. He is a cutie! Dallin and Jaclyn are the greatest family. I am so proud of them and all that they have accomplished together. Love you both!

Soon to be Elder Armstrong...

Saturday we went to the Temple with Gina and Michael Armstrong. We were so happy that they asked us to go with them. It was a beautiful day for everyone. Michael will be leaving for his mission Sept 14th to Portland Oregon.

(Elder) Spencer Perkins

Spencer Perkins and his new bride Mandi, his dad, Step mom and step brothers all came to NC for a visit. It was nice to see him again and sooo happy. He has a great family, so nice to meet them. A big thank you to Jim and his sweet wife for treating us all to dinner. Hope you had a great visit in NC.

Elder Z Page

I hate that I have no pictures to put up. I told him I wanted pictures!!
Hello Everyone!
Glad to hear that you guys had another wonderful week! That is pretty crazy that they did the Alumni game in the gym, that must have been way different. I will write Ben. I will just make time.
Great to hear you had a great day with Michael at the Temple. It is really great to hear about everybody coming out into the service of Heavenly Father. This work truly does change other peoples lives and shapes us into the people Heavenly Father wants us to be. I am so excited for Michael to serve in Oregon and Ben to serve in Las Vegas. I have no doubt they will do great work there!
Not going to lie, one of my favorite things to read in an email is that you guys have skyped with my Marissa. :) I agree that she is a keeper. But, you know Mom, you always told us that you would know we loved a girl when we found one just like you. (****NOTE FROM ME I DON"T RECALL EVER TELLING MY BOYS THAT! JUST SAYING!!) And well, I love my Mamma so much I found a girl like her. :oD
I will get to a letter Mom, and some pictures will come your way soon. I am sorry that I haven't been doing very good! I will get to that.
Crazy to think that Elder Perkins is married! I remember a couple weeks before I left I went to Statesville for transfers and I met him and his family and now he is married!
I am so proud to hear about Tory! He is going to have such a great year playing! I always really liked Phil so I am excited for him to have a great season. I am afraid by the time I get home and we all play in that Alumni game I will have lost my touch. I haven't played soccer since Sapporo! I really hate not being able to play, and I am scared I am just going to lose it by the time I get home.
You asked how my language is going? I honestly don't really know how to answer that question. It is hard to gage it. I can get along by myself almost entirely now. I dont have to think to much when I speak anymore. Still obviously a lot of vocab I am not familiar with, but i don't have any trouble anymore. I guess we will just have to find out at Christmas, have Sister Mitchell there when I call and we can talk for you!! :)
The work is still going pretty good. We have hit another bump in the road. Neither of our baptisms this week are going to happen. Takeshi was doing wonderful and set to be baptised, but the day of his baptismal interview Satan hit him with a hard temptation and now he has to wait a little longer to get ready to be baptized. It is a bump, but he is still working hard to get baptized on 8/20. Please pray for him, he is having some trouble with smoking. We have been doing a lot of different things and working hard these past couple weeks.
I have been spending all day today puting all the pieces for Marissa's birthday package together. Hopefully she likes it!
It has been SOO hot here this week so everyday is dying in 100% humidity and heat! Makes me excited for the winter!
I was laughing the other day because it is pretty hard sometimes to do things in English! I pictured me coming home and having some serious issues during my homecoming talk trying to speak in English! This coming week is going to be pretty busy. Lay Choro and I have to spend a day at the Mission Home for ZL Council, and then we have service again this week, and before I know it it will be P-Day again! Weeks are starting to breeze by and I can feel things pick up and up. I can hardly believe I will be on my 4th transfer in a week and a half!! There are only 16 transfers! I am trying to think of things to say but I don't really know what to report! I remember all those times Dallin and Matt would write and not say much and now I understand! Every day we are finding and teaching people...and...well that is a mission!! :oD How is Jordan doing? That is something I have been thinking about a ton, I want to hear about how he is doing. Please let me know!
Well, I guess that is it for this week, I will finish by bearing my testimony. Ether 12:27-28 talks about we have weaknesses to make us humble and to bring us unto the Savior. I want to testify that in our weakness, we can find true strength is our Savior. A mission is something that you just absolutely can't do on your own. On a mission the Lord teaches us to come unto him in humility so that he can show us miracles. Those miracles aren't just ones we can see, he will cause miracles of change within us, the power to change our natures. This is God's true gospel. I know it with all of my heart. If we follow faithfully and humbly, we will never be lead to roads we cannot walk, bridges we cannot cross, or mountains we cannot climb. The path of a disciple of Jesus Christ is a path that is narrow and long, but the only path that will take you to eternal happiness with our Father in Heaven. I testify that it is a path worth taking. I love you all so much!! I hope you are all doing well and have joy in every day of your lives! Until next week, I love you!!
Elder Zachary Taylor Page

Elder Page nears the end

Hey everyone,
Thank you so much for your love and letters. I love to hear how everything is going with you all. It sounds like you are really enjoying your summer. I'm glad that you are getting so much time together.
It sounds like Zach is doing well in Japan. I'm glad he met Sis. R :) She is really sweet. I'm glad Zach W. is doing well too! That would be awesome if he went to BYU Law school :) He is such an example to me.
Things with me are alright. THis week we finally met the new mission pres. The Kilpacks are great:) Thare are super nice & seem really excited about the work.
Elder Densley is recovering well. He's really postive about everything. With him being sick I've had time to do alot of reflecting. Now that I'm coming to the end I've been having a lot of thoughts about the last 2 years. Have I done enough? Have I grown? Have I become Who I need to be? I've found that with the excitement of coming home comes fears of all that lies ahead, school, work, marriage. Am I ready for all of that...am I ready to leave my mission? I feel so torn and confused.
Keep me in your prayers, I need them more than ever.
I read in Alma 42. I felt really connected to Alma's son. I've made mistakes & sinned & felt that there was no hope for me. Inadequecy comes alot as a missionary. I read the last verse and felt peace from Alma vs. 27 all are invited to receive the waters of life. We are not compelled! Agency allows freedon to chose. I've felt that in inviting others to drink from the living water of Christ. We will never thirst as we go to him. We fall and slip. We constantly sin and mess up. It would seem all hope is lost in the unpayable demands of justice. We cry within ourselves, " I don't have the means to pay the debt" We feel sorrow. From this pain comes the desire to repent. I'm so grateful for the sorrow I feel that pushes me to my knees. Humility, how much I need more of it. Pride continually seems to creep into my life in all forms. How can I call others to come to Christ when I still am so far from being perfect as He is? I am a sinner and feel as Nephi encompassed by the sins that so easily beset me. The last verse made me feel Christ's love for me. With my sin and mistakes. The Savior says, "stand, go, thrust in the sickle, they sins are forgiven you.
I know that peace and true joy can only be found in Christ. He is mindful of ALL his children. He is our Savior. It's true! We have hope. He is the rock of our salvation. I am in awe at his perfect nature and love for all and that we can know and understand who he truly is and He is through the gospel.
I love you all You have helped me be more like my Savior through your examples. I am so undeserving of the blessins that have been piled at my feet. I am grateful!
Have a great week:)
Love
Elder Page

Page Choro

Hey everybody,
ok so I am very sorry this email will be very unimformative and short, but this week has been one of the busiest weeks of the mission so far and I only have like 15 minutes until I have to be home. So just to recap the week very briefly...We made two baptisimal dates this week! Both were miracles. The first miracle is named Mariko. She is in her early 20s and we broke her phone and then made a baptisimal date! Long story but she could possibly be my first baptism in about a month. But, if not her, we met a guy last night named Takeshi. We met him on the street, took him back to the church, we taught a great lesson, he said he wants to change his life and we made a baptismal date!! It was a great week, but way busy! The Sendai Zone is by far the biggest zone in the mission with around 20 missionaries, and so being a Zone Leader is way busy! We went on two splits this week with the APs and a District leader. Me and Lay Choro are really working hard to lift up the zone and help everybody out. Lay Choro is a great example to me and I have learned so much from his leadership. Tell his Mom that she raised one heck of a son! :) We had a big Ward party today with a couple of Investigators there. Us Elders planned the party so it was really fun and...well...American! We had a water balloon fight, a hoola hoop contest (which I definitely failed at), and a food eating contest! It was way fun and a good experience for everybody. I also got my haircut today by a sister missionary named Sister Kumagai. Mom, when I thought it couldn't get worse than that one time the guard fell off...I was wrong. :) I will send you pictures soon. Lets just say that I hope people focus on my Smile!!!! I am sorry this email has been so super short! I got a letter out to Marissa today and I relayed a very special experience, one of the greatest of my life, to her in that letter. When she gets the letter she can read it to you guys, Ok? I am so sorry!! I feel super bad that you don't really know a lot! Just know that I am really trying to work my heart out! I am trying to be the very best missionary I can. I love you all so much. I know that this church is true. There is no doubt. I promise you all again that God Lives, Jesus is the Christ, We can know eternal truth perfectly through the Holy Spirit of God. You guys are all the best. Mamma, I love ya! The most exciting thing I can imagine about going home is getting a big Mamma hug again! There are a couple other things but that is first! ;)
I love you all!!! Have a great week!!
Love always,
Elder Zachary Taylor Page

Choose to Bloom where you are planted!

Hello Everybody!!
Well, where to start on the past few days! Since I don't have too too much to just tell you as far as things going on, I will tell you about a wonderful learning experience that I had. So I am going to put it straight, the past three days were terrible for missionary work. It started with one bad evening and then it carried over into the next days. It is way hot and humid here, and we spent all day out in the heat, and nobody would even stop to talk to us. All day people rode by on there bikes and turn their shoulders as they walked by. Coming off of a week of seeing a lot of miracles and good experiences, it was a long fall into this period of hard rejection. With the drop into this hard time, I began to lose patience. I listened to people tell me they didn't need this message over and over again and it drove me up the wall. I began to be impatient and wouldn't even be happy when I would try and talk to people. I made the mistake of letting my faith in miracles go. I walked into every contact believing that they would just ignore me, and so that is just what I got. I began to recognize me own discouragement and impatience as last evening drew to a close. Last night, I hit the bottom and fell on my knees in prayer. I came to my Father and told him exactly what I was feeling. I cried and felt his assurance that if I would pick my head up, he would give me ways to lift me up. So as I went to sleep last night, I still felt down, but decided that things would get better. The morning was the same and I felt pretty lowly. I decided that would write in my journal, and as I wrote, I began to feel the love of my Saviorin my heart. Moments later, Elder Ellis and Elder Lay came home from shopping and they had bought me some Melon Pan (my favorite bread) to cheer me up. I felt there love and my mood gradually began to be lifted. As soon as I decided that I could feel joy, the Lord began to bless me with his tender mercies. Through his spirit my change of attitude and heart was completed as I received a talk from my Dear Marissa. Her sending that talk to me was inspired of the Holy Ghost and brought that smile back to my face. The talk was all about discouragement and at the end it says, "I can choose to bloom wherever I am planted, whenever the season, whatever the challenges." I know that the Lord answers our prayers. I have learned this week that he will try our faith. If we keep faith in him through all things and do not droop in discouragement, he will keep his promise to us that "the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him (Mosiah 29:20)." Through this experience I have better learned how to trust in my Savior through all trails on the mission and in life. My sincere and solomn promise to all of you is that Jesus Christ lives. He paid the ultimate sacrafice so that through all pain we can be lifted up. Jesus Christ truly hath decended below all men so that he might lift up even the most lowly soul. I am so priviledged to be able to serve him and to be his tool to lift up those souls who will humble themselves and let him heal them. This is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It was brought back to this earth throught the prophet Joseph Smith. He truly did translate golden plates, given to him by an angel, into the Book of Mormon. Eleven witnesses testified to their death that they had seen the plates, handled them, and that they were an ancienct record.
My testimony is with their's. The Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God. Read it and you can know without a doubt that it is Gods word, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. If the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and this church is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is the Keystone. If you want to know if this gospel is true, read that Book. It is everything and I know that when you read, you will know with no doubt that it is true, and therefore,that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all so very much. Everyone have a wonderful week. Until next week everyone please remember me in your prayers.
Love you all,
Elder Zachary Page

Just a few :) pictures of Elder Smethurst...

I was looking thru the blog and realized I had not been putting pictures up of the missionaries. I was putting the on FB but not on here. After 8 1/2 months with us we had to say goodbye to Elder Smethurst, who had become family to us. It was hard to just put up a few pictures. Good luck in your new area, the people will love you! Probably not as much as we do ;) Can't wait to see you again! Love you to the moon and back :) Saying goodbye was hard, we sure will miss him.

He became one of my boys

Visiting some of our members with us

On exchanges with Elder Howell

His new companion Elder Wells

These 2 grew to love each other

End of P-day & dinner with us

One of the many devotionals

The Concord Elders joined in on P-days :)

His new companion Elder Petersen

Happy Birthday!!!

Celebrating his 20th birthday!

Christmas Elder Smethurst Skyping his family....It was so fun meeting them.

Some of my favorite people all atogether

Already feeling like family :)

Elder Smethurst & Elder Fuller

Christmas with the Pages, decorating the tree.

His first haircut with me...seems so long ago.

Time is flying by in Sendai

Hey Everybody!!
Sorry about the fake out in Emailing again, this week was the normal transfer week so we had p-day on Wednesday, but next week it will be on Monday so be expecting it then! :) Speaking of transfers, there is a transfer from within the threesome this week...I am now companions with Elder Lay. Elder Ellis will still be in Kamisugi with us, but another Elder from another area is coming in to make it 4 elders here. He is a japanese Elder named Mizoguchi. So, we will still be with Elder Ellis, but we aren't companions, just me and Elder Lay now. I am pretty happy because I like them both a ton and I was worried that we would get separated. There is another change though, President Rasmussen changed the organization of the mission a little bit and now every area only has 1 zone leader. That zone leader is Elder Lay so now I am still with the Zone leader.
Anyways, past all of that news, no Mom, i haven't gotten your letter yet but I am sure it will come soon. We did celebrate the Fourth of July though...kind of. We ate steak for dinner and I wore my American Hater Blockers during dinner. :) Also, this super nice member of the ward made us a cake and brought it to us and said in English, Happy Fourth!!! It was super nice and was nice of her to do for us. That is so exciting about Jordan going to the Temple this week!! I am super excited for him! And you are right, he will be gone before he knows it, that last month is just a blurr to me now it was so fast. I have been thinking about him a lot lately with him leaving and stuff. He is going to do so well and see so many baptisms it is going to be great. There is a guy from Peru here for business that is coming to the ward here till he goes home. He comes to church every single week and he doesnt understand anything, it is amazing to see somebody keep there covenants like that. I was talking to him a little bit and he just said that the church is Peru is amazing right now. Growing so fast and the people are becoming 2nd and third generation and the strength of the members is increasing. Jordan will see so many miracles there.
Speaking of Matthew, I talked to Sister Rasmussen about Matt when I met her. She said that he was one of the most kind, humble, soft loving people she has ever seen and an absolutely amazing missionary. I told her that she was definitely talking about my brother. It is crazy how fast it goes. In a couple weeks I hit 6 months and then in a couple months Matt is home! Crazy!!
I have learned so much and grown more than I have grown in the entire mission in this last transfer alone. I have had some important lessons to learn and I had to fall down and get a little scrapped up to learn a couple of them. I am so grateful to Elder Lay and Elder Ellis because they have been great. My Japanese have at least tripled in this transfer too in no small part because of them. Everything in this language is really starting to click and sometimes it drives me crazy because I can't think in English sometimes!! :o) We had a very very blessed week this week. We had three days in a row where we set a baptismal date each day and we found a lot of people. I hope you all truly understand that miracles happen every single day. We have been praying so much and working so hard to find people who will receive this message and we are finding them. Also, we found out yesterday that we will have the opportunity to do Service in earthquake&tsunami affected areas every other week now which is a great blessing and opportunity.
This is the Lord's church. Through a prophet, Jesus Christ restored his 100% truth to the earth, and he is leading that church through a prophet today. Something that I have been seeing in missionary work and that I have been able to apply to myself is that Heavenly Father is so willing to give us answers to anything. The trick that I have really learned is that we have to sincerely want them, sincerely seek them, and then have a sincere desire to act on that answer, no matter what it is. It is Moroni's promise in the Book of Mormon. We are totally capable to receive all things, but we must yield our wills and give up our pride in order to fully unlock the windows of Heaven. I testify that the windows of Heaven are open. God speaks to us all individually and through his prophet. We can all know perfectly what we should do, but first we must act. Jesus stands at the door ready to enter, but he can't come into our hearts and into our lives unless we open the door. I love this gospel, it has allowed me to have the faith to overcome all and to have a sure knowledge of my plan. I know where we are from, why we are here, and where we are going perfectly because of this truth we have been given.
I Love you all so much. Everybody have a wonderful week and remember everyday that this is a happy gospel. Show that happiness every day, live this gospel (Mosiah 2:41).
Love always,
Elder Zachary Taylor Page

Elder Page sweating it out in Tucson

Elder Page says "it is getting so hot in Tucson, and there is no where to escape the heat. We had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Walker this past week. It was a powerful meeting and I gave them BOTH hugs @ the end. I really am going to miss them, but hope to keep in touch.:) I'll let you know how the new President will be. I'm sure he'll be great!" The rest of his letter was full of questions for us. He sends his love to all and says thank you for everyones love and letters. We are so excited that Matthew has less than 4 months left! I can not wait to give that boy a huge long hug and kiss, and to just see his sweet smile!

Elder Page in Sendai

Service in Sendai, check out the hat Marissa :)

Hello Everybody!!

It has been a crazy 4 days since I transfered here to Kamisugi! The past few days have consisted of a CRAZY busy schedule!

We have been in a lot of meetings with people in the ward here trying to make sure our missionary efforts are well coordinated because there are 3 sister missionaries too. The ward here is really big for Japan, it is well over 100 people! This past sunday was Stake Conference and so members from Tohoku came to Kamisugi. President Tateoka leaves on Wednesday and so he spoke at the Conference. It is pretty crazy that President Rassmensun is coming tomorrow night! It is going to be a crazy week or so with us working on the transition and stuff. The missionary work is way different here and everything just feels way more busy! I don't really have a whole lot of things to tell this week other than a pretty funny story that I will tell quickly. We met a black guy in Japan! He was from New York City and his name was "King." He was a little off his rocker to say the least but his little bike and he stopped to talk to us. He started telling us that he tried to get the police in New York to kill him by breaking into someones apartment naked. Apparently when the police came in, he yelled at them to shoot him,but they just tackled him instead. He said that when they tackled him he felt Gods love and as soon as he was released from prison he came to Japan because God called him here. To make the rest of this long story short, he told us that he has learned that God is in the palm of our hands and we just need to have One Love!!! He chose Ellis Choro as his son, gave him his email, and told Ellis choro to email him 10 years to the day from then. It was pretty crazy. Needless to say we went to a park after that and prayed together so that we could stop laughing and regain the spirit. :) I felt my first earthquake this week! It wasn't big but it was pretty cool because the house was rocking! We have a couple of investigators from China that we are teaching in English so that feels pretty nice! Other than that, it has just been a very fast and very short 4 days! Just a couple of things, Hailey Shubert has written me a couple times and I want to write her back but I am not sure how to get a letter to her or what the address is, so if you could do that for me that would be great! Also, we want to try and and implement Family Missionary Plans for the members here and I remember we had a sheet for that back home, if you could send one to me that would be great! Also, one more quick thing Mamma,and you can consult Papa about this, there is this really sweet place here in Kamisugi called "The Super Suit." You get a totally personally designed, taylored, name embroydered suit for 100 bucks. It is a pretty sweet deal. It really isn't a huge huge deal, but if that is in the budget, it would be pretty sweet! ;oD
Alright, from that I don't have too much else, just to end with my testimony. This church is God's true, restored church on earth. I know that Jesus Christ leads this church today. He is my Savior and Redeemer. Through his redeeming power,we can be together forever with those we love. Mom, I love you so much. I miss you and your hugs so much, you have no idea! Yesterday I hit 5 months and I can hardly believe it! It feels so fast. Tell everyone in the family that I love them. Give Marissa my love as usual. Have a wonderful week Momma! And dont feel bad about not emailing me this week, I know you will feel a little bad, but don't worry, P-Days come and go so fast and next week will be here in 2 seconds. I love you all!!!
Love Always,
Elder Zachary Taylor Page

Elder Page getting ready for a move.

Hey Everybody!!!

Sorry Mom that I didnt email on time this week, it has been a crazy day and my P-Day got switched from Monday to Wednesday this week! I will tell you all about why after I reply to all the great news I gotin the email! First of all, tell Tyler I said CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Who knows how many weddings I will miss while I am gone but I am super happy for him, that is so awesome!!! Secondly, Michael and Ben got their calls!!! Portland and Vegas, something about that is so fitting for them! Wish them luck from me and I will try to get a letter out to them pretty soon here. It is way way hard to find time to do anything on P-Day mom!!! I have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to even get letters out to Marissa ever couple of weeks!! Speaking of letters, you need to figure out what the deal is with Kirby! I havent heard from her since the MTC and I don't have an address for her, I want to hear from her! So great to hear about the Baptism you had back home, she sounds like a wonderful girl! It is wonderful to see the work move forward there! The news about Elder Smethurst is pretty sad, but there is ZERO doubt in my mind that he will see us many many times again! The news about Papa Curry is pretty sad, it is hard because I can't be there for the funeral and everything, we all had some way wonderful memories with that Old Guy!! Mom, you better keep Smores truckin for the next year and a half!! I got to see that old cat again!!! :) I got my package last week and it was so great!!! We have pretty much eaten up all the food now and we greatly enjoyed it, especially the beef jerkey! Sounds like everything is just going great with you guys and that is wonderful to hear!!

Alright, now to update you on me for the past few weeks! Buckle yourseatbelt, a lot has happend. :) You wanted to know about the day ofservice we had in Sendai, well, we had another one last week, but thistime, KSL, the Utah news channel, they came and did a story about us missionaries. They did a whole story while we did service and everything so tell MJ and everybody out there in Utah to be watching for it pretty soon, i was definitely in it! But, for the service we helped clean out and fix up a couple of peoples houses. We had to rip up all of the floors and scoop out a bunch of mud and sludge from under the houses and bag it all up and then we had to help put some peoples houses back together!! This one ladys porch lifted up and moved out of place during the tsunami and we carried the whole huge porch for her and got it back into place!! Doing that service was away wonderful experience both times. Mom, they took us out to the coastline where things were absolutely destroyed. It was probably the saddest thing I have ever seen. It really was totally wiped out. I took a bunch of pictures and stuff so I will try to email some this week or next.

I crashed on my bike again, but this time I didn't get hurt at all. We were running really late to an appointment so we were going way way fast to try and get there and this high school kid came out from around the corner like 2 feet in front of me. I slammed on the brakes but I was too close and totally hit the kid and his bike.I had a couple of bumps and scratches but i was totally ok! :)

The work here has been pretty slow like usual, but that hasn't really slowed us down and we have been going and going. Because the work has been slow and we have three people, in order to talk to as many people as possible, we have been splitting up. The other two will walk on one side of the street and I will walk on the other by myself so we can talk to everybody! It has been pretty crazy but it helped out our numbers a ton and my Japanese has improved a ton this transfer! Elder Ellis and Elder Lay as companions really has been so good for me. They push me and it has really helped me grow a lot. Like usual, in a couple weeks you run into and talk to some crazy people out here. One guy I was talking to went off about how he wanted to USA to go back to the 13 colonies!! Dont even think about asking me why...I have no stinking idea. haha :)

I had to practice teaching this past weekone on one with the Mission President...I was way nervous Mom!! I know, its me and I dont get nervous (except when it comes to Marissa) ever!! But I was a wreck! I taught lesson one though and he said I did well.Ok, now for all the crazy news. So to start off, I will go to lastweek. President Rasmessun is coming in at the end of next week, so we heard(bc of the ZLs) that this week they were going to do some ET(emergency transfers) to way shift things up before the new pres.Up till now, all of the areas in Sendai have been closed because of damage and stuff, but the news was that they were going to move the ZLs into Sendai so that the new mission president could work moreclosely with them. So for several days, we have unofficially knownthat Elder Lay and Elder Ellis were transfering away into Sendai this week while I would stay in Tsuruoka and be ther Area Senior(which justmeans that I have been in the area longer). It was kind of sad because I really love Elder Lay and Elder Ellis and they were leaving. That was the reason that P-Day got switched to today so that they could pack. So this morning we go the Official phone call from President Tateoka about them transfering into Sendai. We have it on speaker phone and he says, "Is everybody there? Ok, so the three of you will be tranfering into Kamisugi(Sendai)." We were just dead shocked, it was quiet and I said, "did you say three?" He said,"Yeah, we are going to whitewash Tsuruoka. I want you to keep working with the Zone Leaders. So get your bags packed you leave tomorrowmorning." It was way crazy! We spent all morning packing everything up to go. I have only been here for four weeks and now I am moving into Kamisugi with the Zone Leaders. So just so you know how crazy this is, Kamisugi is the most populated area in the whole mission.The whole area is the heart of Sendai. Literally, the crowded streets and tall buildings is the whole area. It is a huge shock to all of us, but I am way excited I get to keep working with them and in the most populated area of the mission! So, from that, a couple things will happen. I will be way closer to the new mission president because we will be right there in Sendai with him. The type of missionary work will go from having to knock on doors everyday to just talking to people on the street all day every day. It is going to be way different then little ol Tsuruoka, but it is going to help me grow so much.

Alright, from that, that is pretty much all the big news I have for everybody now. I am sorry I havent been in good touch with email and stuff, it is just way busy and I dont have a lot of time to write anybody. It will be different in Kamisugi, I will have easy access to email so I should be able to email every week at least alittle.

To end this email I want to leave everybody with something I have been pondering a lot about. This past week, I finished the Book of Mormon after studying it for about 4 months. I sat pondering a lot about the pages that I had soaked up and let sink into my heart and mind. We share with a lot of people on the street here theIntroduction to the Book of Mormon. We read with them the last twoparagraphs. It reads..."We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and thenask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book istrue...Those who gain a divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus is the Christ the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lords Kingdom once again on the earth..." I have pondered those words deeply in my heart. They have brought me an everlasting assurance, and at the same time, a great desire for those I know and love to follow this divine path the knowledge found in these shortlines of the Introduction. I dont know who all reads these emails when my Mom post them up or sends them out, but I have challenged everyone over and over again to try the experiement. Find out for yourself. If you have gained a knowledge, gain it again, rekindle the fire in your heart. I testify at the end of this email that if youwill read the Book of Mormon with a full willingness of heart, and ask God if it is true, no matter who, no matter what, no matter the situation, God will tell you in great power that these words are his words. The book is true. I know it, and people reject me about it every day, but it is Gods word revealed through his prophet, JosephSmith. Christ taught, "Ask, and it shall be given you;seek, and yeshall find;knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh recieveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." I promise that that is true. No one will open a door that we don't knock on, but if we do knock, the doors of knowledge will be opened unto us.

I love you all so so much. Sorry about falling so behind with emails and stuff, I will try to do better! :)

I love you Mom, I miss you so much and I cant wait to just get a wonderful big, mom hug from you again!

Have a great week! Tell Marissa I love her as usual!

Till next week,

Love,

Elder Zachary Taylor Page

We love you Grandpa Curry!

We are sad to say good bye to Grandpa Curry, he passed away today just a few weeks short of 102. We were so good to have had a sweet visit with him last week. We spent time doing just what he loved doing and that was talking and quoting his funny famous sayings. I love him just like my own grandpa, he was my grandpa! My grandparents passed away while I was young, so I got to love Steve's. We will so miss him when we visit at Grandma's house, but we were all so blessed to have had him in our lives for so long. We love you Grandpa, hope you are enjoying being with your sweet heart Daisy, We will see you again!

A very sad goodbye to Elder Smethurst!

We had to finally say goodbye to one of our missionaries. Elder Smethurst has been with us for over 8 mths, and we have all grown very attached to him. There are that handfull of missionaries that come and you grow to love and they just still your heart, he is definately one of them, he is added to a list of others, they all know who they are :) I truly hope that we get to see him again and I get to give him that big hug FINALLY!

Happy Father's Day

To the greatest Dad's in my life...Happy Father's Day to all of you! We love you and are so happy that you are such a huge part of us!

Elder Page experienced another Baptism

P-day playing golf

Elder Bellows and Elder Page

Hey Everyone,

First of all the baptism was so great! Ainslee is an awesome girl and will do great. Her family came who are not members and I felt they had a good experience.
Other than that the week has been pretty uneventful. Campus is just tough right now with not as many people around. We are trying to find others ways to find.
We have one investigator right now Gregario. He's a good guy He is really quiet. He came to church the other day. It was a lot to take in, but I felt like he enjoyed it. He's looking fro the good & truth and we are just helping him recognize it in the church :) We'll be updating you on him in the coming weeks.
Transfers are Sunday night. WE'll see if I stay another or if Elder Bellos stays. I think one of us will leave. It's about a 50/50 shot. I don't mind either way. It is getting hot here. It got over 100 this week, so if I moved it would be nice to possibly get out of Tucson :) We'll wee I do love the singles wards.
I've been working on trying to watch what I eat & running everyday :) It's an uphill battle, but It's been alright.
It sounds like everything at home is good. I'm glad school is almost done. This summer will be a fun one for you guys. I'm glad that Zach is finally settled in his mission. He sounds like he is doing so good. He's going to be a powerful missionary.
I love and miss you all. Have a great week. I'll let you know about transfers, until then.
I love you guys!
Love.
Matt

Finally from Sendai...

Hello everybody!!
I am sorry about all of the suspense the past couple weeks!! I wanted to email really bad, but we have just been super busy! Plus the only place we have to email is way far away from anywhere so it is a treck on our bikes to get out here! Wow, there is a lot that has happened in a couple weeks! Where to start, I guess I will reply to stuff first. It was wonderful to see that picture of Matt and President Rassmensuen, you can definitely get the feel of change in the air here as we get ready to switch mission presidents. It could be way different, I have seen that already as I have switched from Sapporo to Sendai, different presidents will recieve their own specific revelation on where to take the work in their missions. I am excited to meet him!
It is great to hear how wonderful all of the missionary work is going in Kannapolis and with Matt! It is the most joyful work in the world and I am so grateful you guys at home do so much for us missionaries!!
Dallin and Jacs got a cat!! That is super awesome!!! There are a lot of cats around here and I see them all the time and miss Daisy and Smores!
By this point everybodys summer has probably started, that should be way fun! Keep me updated on all the fun things you do!!
You are totally right Mom, Marissa keeps herself so busy! She told me she just took on another job! Do me a favor and you make sure that girl is having fun!! :) I think a great way for her to do that would be to go to the beach with you all!! If she puts up a fight about it, just tell her that she didnt regret it the first time, how could she possibly go wrong going again! :)
Derek came to town, all the Caswell crew came! You guys are just having so much fun!! I miss all those guys a lot. Especially Jordan, that boy is my brotha!! I am getting super excited for him to get out there and to start feeling this amazing joy of missionary work! Make him send me a letter Mom. ;)
I loved hearing about your wonderful Sacrament Meeting with all of your testimonies. I miss hearing my family bear their testimonies, that is something I cant wait to experience again. Tell Tory to give Austin a big ole` hug for me and then tell him I said to do all he has to do to make sure he gets on a mission! I can`t wait to hear about Michael!! That is super exciting!
I haven't gotten my package but I cant wait!! I hope it wasnt too expensive! I saw a picture of Mitt Romney in someones newspaper and I figured that was what it was. Lets hope this round goes better! Without Mike Huckleberry Fin he might have a better chance! ;) I hope I get to hear this $teve rap! That would crack me up! How is Mrs Benaduce, did she read that book, I havent had any time to write her! Tell her Hello! I havent had time to write anybody!
Most days we just work through P-Day because here people are off a lot on Monday! You have to do what you have to do to get the work done, especially here in Tsuruoka! And on that note, I guess I will just move on to me!
Things are going well. We came here to Sendai two weeks ago on an 8 hour train ride from Sapporo! We took the train under the ocean, it was pretty cool! Week had a mission conference and then did service in Sendai. It was a great experience, some of the devastation was pretty bad but we helped out a couple of familys with their homes, or with what was left with them. Since then we have just worked out hearts out. Here in Tsuruoka the work has been pretty slow, we worked super hard last week but put up really low numbers which was tough. We have a lot of faith and confidence that the work will pick up though if we just keep going hard everyday. The branch has about 40 people in it and to be honest, they just seem like a tired branch; not much fire in their testimonies or zeal for missionary work! But we are trying to get them going! In Testimony meeting it was super dead and nobody was getting up, so I got up and starred down the branch and challenged them all to get up and "bear witness of what you know to be true." I sat down and waiting and was looking people right in the eyes until they finally got up and did so. It was pretty funny, but all three of us are doing all we can.
My companions are great! I love them so much and we get along really well. One funny story and then I have to go, dont have a lot of time! The other day we were walking past a park and there were a bunch of 9 10 and 15 year olds playing soccer in the park. I hopped the fense and starting playing with them and they freaked out and started calling me pro! When we left 5 minutes later, they followed us all the way to the church!! We showed them the church and told them all a little bit about who Jesus Christ was and gave them pamphlets! It was kind of weird, but a miracle to help lift our spirits none the less.
There are a TON of teenage girls in Tsuruoka and they freaking love us! All the missionaries tease me that I can contact any teenage girl because of the "Page Choro Smile Power." hahaha It is pretty funny! Tell Marissa not to worry, nobody here is even close to as amazing as her...or it might just have to do with the fact that I cant understand what they are saying! ;) Mom, let her know I sent her a letter this week and that I love her to death!
I wish I had more time but I will let you know more next week! I have to go now, hopefully we will get to email next week! I love you all so so much! This gospel is true! Jesus Christ is our Redeemer! It is my privilidge to share that truth with the Japanese people and I love it! Remember every single day how blessed we are to have this amazing knowlege of Gods Plan of True Happiness for us! Our families truly can be eternal! There is no doubt in my mind of this sure knowledge! If you dont know it, try the experiement. Test it. I promise you from the bottom of my heart that God will show you with Power and Great Glory that this is his church and that he speaks through a prophet today!
I love you all and I cant wait to hear from you again!!
Till next week or whenever!
With all of my Love,
Elder Zachary Taylor Page