Transferred!

Well it`s transfer week and I got my phone call this morning at about 10am telling me I`m going. AHH!! Packing is not fun. Oh well, it`s what the Lord wants for me.

I`m going to an area called Suwa. It`s in Nagano ken (nagano prefecture) which is where the winter olympics were a while ago. I really don`t know much about it at all except it is the farthest area from the mission home and in the middle of lots of mountains. President either trusts me to put me out in the middle or nowhere - or is trying to keep me away from bothering everyone else. I`m going to lean on the latter.

My new companion is an Elder Bruff (I think?). He`s only been in Japan for three months and I will be his second companion. He`s probably scared to death - but I`m quite excited. The gossip around the mission about me is that I have big eyebrows - hey, they are my trademark.

So I`ve been packing furiosly. There is lady in the ward that can send boxes to anywhere in the mission for only five dollars - so rather than throw away stuff, I`ll just continue to acquire more and send it in a box. It always hard for me to part with things. Mom and Dad, you`ll just have to bring two big, empty suitcases with you when you come to get me next year.

So this last week, my final week in Komatsu, could not have been better. We have some fantastic investigators, including two who came to church this last week. Wednesday was our miracle day. We talked to 101 people (record for this area) and found two seperate people who showed interest in our message. One 35 man we went back and visited on saturday had read the first 50 or so pages of the book of mormon and wanted to read more. Another lady we are meeting with is doing well - reading and praying - and we both feel that in the next month or so, she will be baptized.

I have come to love Komatsu a great deal. I think there were some people I was meant to find and teach here - and by the grace of God I was able to accomplish that. I have felt the Spirit so strongly some days. Most of all, I found one of my lost brothers - Yoshimi. He may not be quite ready - but I have no doubt, rather assurance from God, that someday he will enter the saving waters of baptism and follow Christ valiantly.

I am so excited, and I will let you know next week what it`s like. The past year has been amazing - and only more adventures lay ahead.
I pray we will be where we should, when we should, with the Spirit with us, your brother,

Elder Alexander Todd Fuller
Japan Nagoya Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

How Much Faith Do I Have?

Well, the weather has been nice lately. The rainy season is just about to start though - and being on the sea means LOTS of rain. It`s also going to get so humid that we have to keep the bread in the fridge or else it will mold right away. So it feels like good old Kansas in that aspect.

In missionary affairs...kind of a problem this week. Everything was going so well, seeing great things, and then sunday came. Mr. Yoshimi came to church. Church was fantastic - on the theme of eternal marriage. The Spirit was strong and the testimonies were powerful. Then, after church, as we stepped outside, Mr. Yoshimi started to talk with us. He knows the Book of Mormon and everything we have taught him are ture. He knows that it was divine guidance to meet my and Elder Seely last transfer. He knows also that Heavenly Father is answering his prayers. But... he doesn`t want to give up his freedom and make a covenant with God. He said that for now, he is done meeting with us.

Yeah, that was a little unexpected - but I`m not giving up. He said he`d continue to pray and read from the Book of Mormon. He has a testimony, and we as missionaries, and the ward as well, have really done everything we can. In the end, it is his responsibility. I have faith that he will come around soon, if not this week. He`s not my son, he`s Heavenly Father`s son, and so I will trust God to help.

It is hard though seeing someone who has recieved a knowledge for themselves still not continue in that knowledge. I guess that is how Christ feels a lot of times when you or I sin and go against what we know. He never loses hope in us, and likewise, I won`t lose hope either. I feel very strongly that one of the main reasons I came to Komatsu was to find and teach Yoshimi. In the end though, all we can do is pray hard, work hard, and leave the rest to the Lord.

And yet I am not sad at all. I am so thankful for so many blessings I have recieved and so many opportunities to teach people the resotred gospel. The Spirit has been with us this week so powerfully. We`ve taught many people and found more and more investigators. There`s never a day that goes by without some tender mercy of the Lord blessing my life.

Lately, I have been singing the great hymn `The Lord is my Shepard` a lot. I love that hymn. I feel so blessed.

Exactly one year ago today, the 18th, I was set apart to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ. Since then, I have learned so much. I have learned a language, lived in a new land, met so many new people, made life-long friends, and found some of His lost sheep. It was been the most increadible year of my life and I would not trade it for any other experience. It has been full of trials, but how else do we grow? In the end, I just have to sing glory to God and thank everyone who have helped me so much.

More than anything, I have gained a knowledge of God for myself. He lives. The Christ, Jesus, lives as well, and leads this church today through a living prophet. For myself, without a doubt, I know this from the Holy Ghost.

What a joy it is. I can`t ever describe it fully, but perhaps you know what it`s to have His Spirit with you and angels round about. The Lord is my Shepard, truly, no want have I known.

May you have the same blessings now and always is my prayer, yours,

Elder Alexander Todd Fuller
Japan Nagoya Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Doing Well

Hello from Komatsu, or little pine tree, if you translate it!

I am doing rather well. The weather has been good, though rather hot, and we`ve been out in some fantastic thunderstorms. Our church here is getting redone and a steeple is being installed. They just put the top pointy part on this morning - it was exciting.

Our investigators are doing well, and we keep finding lots more people who are interested in the Book of Mormon and Christ. Mr. Yoshimi is continuing to progress well and is seriously thinking about Baptism. When we meet together and teach him, the Spirit is so powerful. He is now to the point where he knows it is all true, and now is gaining the faith to make the committments to God. It is a fun journey with him.

To tell the truth, a mission isn`t so much a journey as it is a roller-coaster. It really is. One moment, you`re on top of the world because you found someone excited about the gospel, the next, someone says t they`re not interested anymore, and still the next, another person has read and has so many good questions about Christ`s doctrine - wanting to know, but then something else happens. There must be some law that states `it is impossible for everything to go right,` but the opposition just brings more growth. The entire time - through all the good and bad times - there is always the overreaching feeling of peace.

When working with the Spirit and helping others come unto Christ, there is anxiety, dissappointment, sadness even, but there is never fear. There is always faith and hope, and most of all, charity.

There is a whole much to say other than wwe`ve been working very hard. A member brought a friend to church this last sunday and she seems pretty golden. We meet with her tomorrow - Mrs. Matsumoto - which I am excited for as well. We talked to 233 people last week. We`ve just been having fun.

It sounds like there is a lot of sadness back home in Kansas. I pray that the atonement of Jesus Christ will comfort all those hurt and they will be succored by the Good Shepherd. That we all may pass through our dark nights and be joined with our loved ones with our Heavenly Father is my prayer.

With love,

Elder Alexander Todd Fuller
Japan Nagoya Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Powerful Influences of hte Spirit

Hello from the Land of the Rising Sun,

So this week has been a fantastic one. Lots of people to visit and lots of things to do. THe best of all however, was a lesson we had last night with Mr. Yoshimi. It was an intense and powerful lesson about baptism.

We had two amazing members come and help out and we discussed the covenant of baptism. We challenged him to be baptized several times and...he is not quite ready. He knows it`s all true, but he just isn`t ready to make such a committment yet. Nevertheless, the Spirit was so so powerful as we pursued the scriptures and discussed what following Christ entails. He is such a choice son of God and he really is hearing His voice through the scriptures we read together. He admits that our meeting was the guidance of God. He had read a book about the apostacy of the Catholic church, and then not even a week later, we showed up on his doorstep. God`s will really is being accomplished in this marvelous land.

We meet again this upcoming Saturday to talk some more. I have no doubt that he will be baptized, though I just really hope I`ll be around for it. I am so glad to have the many opportunities such as that lesson in helping my brothers and sisters here.

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to serve. From the moment I wake up to the minute I fall asleep - hours after hours of blessings and opportunities come to elder Drake and I. I feel guidence from heaven everyday - and so much more strongly when fasting. I have had so many experiences and seen too many miracles to ever deny what I know to be true.

Today, Elder Drake and I are going to Fukui Prefecture to be on a TV commercial for an English Speech contest next month sponsored by BYU Hawaii. I`ll try to look extra good.

I have to go - but I just want to send my love and testimony to all of you. I know God lives, but more so, I know that God loves, me and you. He has helped me grow through trials, has taught me through inspiration and revelation, and has comforted me when I stood in need. The Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have felt his power, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. (See 2 Nephi 1:15) Blessed be the same of God and the Christ, of whom I have the amazing blessing to tell others about. I am so happy - not the happiness that the world gives, but from above. That you may have that same happiness is my prayer.

With love,

Elder Alexander Todd Fuller
Japan Nagoya Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints