Week 25 Tottori: Oh Snow!

konnichiwa minasan!

this week was crazy! it was filled with crazy snowstorms, exhausting

travel, getting chased by people witH katanas, and the changing of our

missionary schedulE! this week has got me all over the place but i am

also stoked out of my mind! at the beginning of this week we traveled

to the zone leader area to do interviews with the mission president,

but then A crazy snowstorm hit japan and all of the tRains and

highways got closed so we were stuck in The zone leaders' area. we

took advantage of the situation and did some companion exchanges, i

was with tanaka chōrō and it was a blast! he hardly knows any english

so i was full japanese for the whole exchange. we went around helping

people left and right get their cars pushed out of the snow and then

teaching lessons where we could. but my coMpanion was with the other

zone leader and apparently they housed into someone who wasn't really

friendly with our church. the guy ended whipping out his katana and

chasing them out of that neIghborhood! they called the police and took

care of things but it sounded like a crazy night for them! we were

finally able to Get back to tottori a couple days later after enough

of the snow melted. tHat was definitely some of the most exhausting

travel I have done yeT on the mission.

after that we were able to watch this year's worldwide Mission

broadcast where they announced that there is going to be changes for

every missionaries schedule throughout the world. the change is

effecting different missionaries differently depending on where they

are serving. some places missionaries are even waking up early or

later based on their specIfic circumstances! we learn what exactly our

new schedule will be sometime this week. i'm so excited to see what

changes for us! they also loosened up a lot of the iNdividual

companionships abilities to choose more freely how their schedule is

going to go. they mentioned in the broaDcast that it seems like the

lord is really giving more trust to his missionaries. this really made

me reflect on whether or not i am truly worthy of the lord's trust.

agency is one of the greatest gifts that god has given us and really

Shows how much he trusts us. heavenly father and jesus christ love us

so much and they want more than anyThing for us to be happy. they have

given us the path and the tools that are required to achieve that

never-ending happiness, but it is up to us to choose the path that

they have made. satan has done a really good job of making other

"foRbidden paths" appear to be the path to happinEss but ultimately

they will just end in heartbreak and emptiNess. true lasting happiness

can only be attained by following christ and his path for us. with

this new schedule i know that there will be more temptations to be

lazy and not work as hard, but i am committinG right now to give the

lord my all. i love my savior so much and this opportunity that i have

to serve with him is truly such a privilege. i know that by staying on

this paTh we will receive more joy than we can even imagine. christ

truly is the way (2 nephi 31:20-21). i love you all and Hope that your

week is awesome!

全てはよし

アルレッドL老