Churrasco

Churrasco is Portuguese for Barbeque - and we had the best barbeque ever!

This past saturday, shortly after my companion Elder Smith`s birthday, we had a barbeque extranvaganza at the church here in Suzuka. The Brazillians provided the barbeques, the Japanese members brought the rice and some other food, and the church (via the missionaries) brought a hundred dollars worth of meat! In total, about twenty members and fifteen investigators showed up and helped out. Even with many language barriers, everyone got along well, made friends, and had fun. We all sang to Elder Smith for his birthday and ate some cake that Heliane made (which was increadible). Man, if only missionary work was that fun everyday!

So that was a huge success, helped all our recent converts, investigators, and long-time members build some bonds with each other outside of a sunday service atmosphere. Really, a lot of times it just helps the branch to come together when everyone has fun together.

This past tuesday brought us to Nagoya for a final meeting with President Traveller and a great zone leader council. An idea that Elder Smith and I piloted is being put into place throughout the whole mission. It`s called the `missionary focus report` and has to do with helping make each area successful in a controllable way. I`m sure it doesn`t mean much to anyone outside of the mission - but it was pretty exciting coming up with the idea - presenting it - and then seeing it put to use. When things work out like that, it just feels good knowing that you`ve been able to contribute.

Well mom is a hundred times more trunky than I am about coming home. Everyone keeps talking to me about it, but it still seems so unreal. It`s almost like a dream how each day floats by so peacefully. Those hours from 11am to 9pm are so short. And yet, dozens of times, those ten hours have changed the course of my life forever. Experiences within thos minutes have shaped the way I look at the world. From visiting those in need, to those that don`t need anything, it`s just so increadible.

Today is zone soccer here in Suzuka - I`m proadly wearing my Brazil soccer jersey that I bought in Shimizu and a half back. Brazillians like me when I wear it :)

This past wednesday, Elder Smith and I were going around like normal, when we rang the doorbell of a very nice young mother named Michiko. We introduced our message and she was quite interested. We listened for a while to what she believed - and then talked about prayer for just a minute with her. We went back the next upon her request. She was so prepared, but that night she had talked to her husband about it. Her husband advised her to first study Buddhism for a while and make sure that that wasn`t correct, and then from there she could study Christianity. Well, we`ll give her a couple months - maybe I can drop by before I leave. No one can argue that she wasn`t prepared though.

While in that same neighborhood, we found another kind lady - in her later years, who has been a Christian for about forty years. Finding a Christian is always fun - they are less than one in a hundred. She was very kind, talked with us for quite a while, and said we could come back this next tuesday. We gave her Book of Mormon and asked her to read a bit before we meet again. She was a good Christian lady.

Yesterday was probably the most fun as far as dendo goes for this week. We visited a member family whose mother is Fillipino (speaking English and Tagalog). She doesn`t come to church a whole lot because she doesn`t know Japanese - so we visit her to make sure she is doing alright. She always feels a bit guilty for not coming - but I can`t balme her too much - church was pretty hard for me back when I didn`t understand anything at all. Even now I don`t quite follow some of the talks at times - of course you get that in English as well :)

Anyway, on the first floor of this family`s apartment (their name is the Ueharas), is another couple Fillipino families. The other family always said hi to us when we visited the Ueharas, and even though they can`t really speak English - just Tagalog - they tried to talk to us a bit. So while tlaking with Sister Uehara, we said, "Hey, can we go with you talk with that family downstairs." She agreed and they invited the three of us in. We introduced the Tagalog Book of Mormon that we had brought to the two families living in that apartment, and Sister Uehara translated for us. Then, after a minute, she interrupted and said "I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon too, can I tell them?" "Sure, go for it," I relpied, and she gave a ten minute dicourse on a whole bunch of things (Tagalog sounds like gibberrish, so I have no idea what she was saying). We left to make our curfew, but she stayed behind and talked with them and made friends. It was a great, all-around positive experience for us, Sister Uehara, and the two families we met with. It just feels good when everything works out.

Well the big excitement for this upcoming week is the baptism of Fernando and Luciana - if there papers get here from Brazil so they can get married (that`s a crazy fun situation). The other twist is that the baptismal font that we normally use is under contruction, so we`ll either being doing it in the sea, or by a waterfall up in the mountains. We`ll see what happens - what an adventure.

Thank you all so very much - I love you. My prayers are with you.
May His Spirit guide you always.

Yours,

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