Elder Tolen's Adventures in the Japan, Tokyo South Mission: Week 26 [35]: Sometimes the Answer is a Giant Truck

Oh! Hello! I didn't see ya there. How are you? Good! This week has been way interesting! Let's dive in, shall we?

The first thing I want to talk about is splits this week! This transfer, the Zone Leaders set up a lot of splits for us, because they want us to learn how the other missionaries do things. So this week, I had the opportunity to go on splits with an Elder named Elder Dalton! We actually came to Japan at the same time. We had so much fun! It was so cool to be able to work hard with someone that understands the same amount of Japanese as me--that was fun! What was even more amazing is that in a town where I have almost never taught a lesson on the street, I was able to teach three of them with Elder Dalton in 24 hours! It was so much fun! It turns out that we are almost like the same person, except he isn't from Utah! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn from him!

Elder Tolen and Elder Dalton Together on Splits

Another story this week! This week, there have been a lot of earthquakes recently. And so, while we were preparing some things at the church before retiring for the night, an earthquake started. There wasn't anything special that happened except for the fact that this earthquake lasted 4 minutes. I've never experienced something like that. Usually at most they are about 40 seconds! So that was pretty intense.

More stories! This week, we rode our bikes up a mountain again! We love doing that I guess. I just love feeling like my legs are going to fall off. :) Anyways, we were going to visit a less active, and we took a lot of good pictures. I'll be sure to include those!

Elders Tolen, Uemura, and Cluff...a View from the Mountain (They Carry Towels to Wipe off Sweat)

Anyways, we got to his house, and he wasn't even there. So we decided to ride up about 5 more minutes and go house an area up in the mountains. But the thing is, it gets really dark up in the mountains, and we had to ride our bikes down this mountain in order to get home. So we housed one house, and had a great discussion with them, but they didn't have any interest. By this time it was starting to get pretty dark, and of course we have little bike lights, but those don't really help when you are riding down a mountain. So we started going back down, and we decided to check our less active one more time. He was home! We were able to have a fantastic discussion with him! He even told us to come back!

But by the time we started heading home again, it was pitch black. I knew it wouldn't be safe to go, so I just said a little prayer of gratitude for letting us have the opportunity to help someone feel the Spirit, but that it was time to go home, and it was going to be pretty dangerous, so I asked for a safe journey. I just felt this intense peace. I knew everything was going to be alright. Right as we got on our bikes, this big, slow-moving truck with bright lights went down the road. It was going slow enough that we would be able to keep up with it, and it would light our path. We were able to make it safely down that mountain. I still don't understand why that huge truck was even up in the mountains, but it was definitely an answer to my prayers. I know that the Lord knows us, and He is always listening. Sometimes we just don't know what to look for. It won't always be a giant truck, but that doesn't mean it isn't there!

I love you all, and I miss you guys!

Elder Tolen