Elder Nathan Alan Didericksen: We had a baptism in Hirosaki

February 8, 2015: Week 16
Area: Hirosaki

Companion: Dowdy Choro

Hey Everyone!! I can't believe it's already pday, the weeks are kinda going by pretty fast right now. Its sounds like you all had a pretty good week with the amazing weather and such. I wish you could share it with me over in Hirosaki because it is snowing so hard right now with freezing cold wind! Walking to the church is definitely not fun for sure. My week was good, not a ton happened.

We started this week of with a bang however! Since it was Igawa Choros last night in Hirosaki, we found this American burger place and so we decided we would try it out. Oh man it was soo good! I felt like I was in America again! It was a glorious time.

On Wednesday, we were going to meet with one of our investigators named NIck. He lives a good 45 minutes away by foot. We went to his house and he said he was busy unfortunately. So we decided to go house for a little bit because we walked all the way out there. The first three houses weren't home but the next one, a man answered the door who is probably in his sixties or somewhere around there. I didn't understand much of the conversation going on, but we told him we are missionaries and we are sharing a message that can strengthen families. He said he was buddhist but he said he was okay if we came back later to share a message! It was cool, even though I couldn't understand what was going on at all! We are going back tomorrow I think and we are going to share the restoration!

The next day, we met with Akimotto san at the church. I love that guy! He is so funny! HE really wants to learn english so he always tries to talk to us in broken english and its hilarious! We taught him about how he can feel the spirit and what it feels like. It was a really good lesson. When we were walking to his car, I started to talk to him, and when I started talking, he got real close to me and grabbed my arm and put is other around me. It was so cute; he's like my little Japanese grandpa!

After that, he took us out for some Yaku Niku. Its a restaurant where you go pile as much raw meat as you want and go cook on a grill that is built into your table. It was soo good. I didn't really do the smartest thing, however. When I got in there, I was so pumped to eat food so I just started stacking whatever I could find on my plate. When I got back, I realized that I mixed all my sushi with raw meat...So I couldn't eat the sushi. I bet when all of the people saw me mixing food with raw meat, they were thinking *What is this stupid foreigner doing?* Oh well.

Saturday, we had Kimura Sans baptism! It was soo great. She is the first convert baptism in Hirosaki in about three years. It was awesome to see her come out of the water and to know that she was completely clean, ready to start her new life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. While she was getting ready, the people who came to the baptism were watching a few mormon messages that the missionaries chose. The first one was *Because of Him*. I love that one. It lets us know that because of Christ and his sacrifice, anything is possible and we are never alone. The second one was *Mountains to Climb* by Henry B Eyring. It is kinda about the same thing. It is my favorite Mormon Message. Those two videos really invited the spirit. I was way cool to see my first baptism as a missionary. Hopefully there are many more! Also, it was awesome because Narita San came to it! He is really starting to come along now and desiring to come unto Christ. We were so excited to see him walk through the door to see the baptism!

Well that is about it. It was a good week. In answering some of your questions:

The new elder in our district is Elder Canapari from Sacramento. The dude is hilarious. He is an absolute Star wars Fanatic. I can ask him any trivial question about star wars and he will know it. Its hilarious!

Also, the day after Dowdy Choro leaves, we have a zone conference with Aomori zone and Morioka zone about IPads! Im pretty excited to get those soon! They will be a great use!

Mom and Dad, I'm glad you guys are still going to games! Jake Harris said that he was allowed to go watch them play in Palm springs cause it was in his area. I'm jealous. Yeah, I'm way excited for the snow festival! It looks way cool. We are going with one of investigators tomorrow! I love you guys so much and I miss you a ton! You guys are the best parents ever and you are definitely my heroes.

Love you guys! Have a great week! Talk to you soon!

Love

Elder Didericksen