First of all, I would like to dedicate the beginning of this letter to a very special person in my life: My dad. His birthday was this past week, and I just want him to know exactly how much I appreciate him. He is such a wonderful example to me, and has always shown me what it really means to be a father, even when I treated him with much less of the respect than he so deserved. I love you Dad. You mean the world to me. I look forward to campouts, fishing trips, and campfire talks when I get home! Love you to the moon!
This week was busy! And next week is going to be even more so!
We had the opportunity to go caroling at a place we do service at every week, and that was amazing! In Japan, caroling isn't a thing. In fact it's kind of weird. So it really is a lot of fun to introduce people to a different culture, because a lot of people have never left their own country before!
After that, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our Stake President. It was actually the day after Thanksgiving! For our actual Thanksgiving feast, we gathered as a district, and because we had no plans with members we went out to an all-you-can-eat Okonomiyaki place! It was divine! After that, we went to the church and started preparing for a musical number we have at Zone Conference, and the Stake President walked in and started talking to us, and we just had a great discussion with him! Just so you know, the Stake President lives in our ward, so this isn't too unusual. But anyways, he asked us if any members invited us over for a Thanksgiving meal, and we said no. The members around here are all really young couples, so everyone is busy with work and things, so he just said, "Oh". And changed the subject.
Then that night, he called us up and invited us over for a Thanksgiving feast at his house the next day! It was amazing. I really look up to our Stake President. He is about the same age as my dad, so I kind of view him as my Dad that lives in Japan. He reminds me a lot of my actual dad!
Today we went to the temple, so that's why I didn't email yesterday! So instead of P-Day yesterday, as a district, we went out to the furthest inhabitable place in our area, and did a "No-splits blitz"! It was awesome. We saw a lot of miracles from that. It really was just out in the middle of nowhere! It was beautiful! I'll try and send some pictures home. It's hard to look at nature, and life, and think that God didn't create it all! I started pondering about how Jesus felt as he walked on the Earth, how it felt to walk upon your own creation, and see the beauty in everything. Every sunrise was astounding, because He painted the sky himself. Every petal of a flower had beauty locked in it, because He had woven it. I've realized how I want to try and appreciate the blessing I have been given more. Everything the Lord does for us is to draw out the beautiful potential He knows we have. Just like a flower bud contains a flower, he knows what we contain, and he knows the beauty we hold.
I love you all. I hope you all had fantastic weeks, and a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did.
Much love,
Elder Tolen
希望を持ち続けてください。旅を続けてください。
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| Having Some Fun on "No Splits Blitz" |
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| Elder Tolen and Elder Burton Having Some Fun |
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| Christmas Caroling in Japan! |
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| Elder Inumaki and Elder Tolen at Church Headquarters near Tokyo Temple |
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| Temple P-Day |
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