2nd week in japan

Japan is great! This mission is great! That about sums it up. But to give you some details...

This is definitely the hardest thing that I have ever done. It surprises me how much our minds can learn! It is infinite! It may be a slow process... and sometime it seems like a really slow process... but we have the ability to learn and I am so thankful for that. I am learning a lot every single day and I am thankful for this experience.

One principle of this Gospel that really blew my mind this week was "as soon as you are selfish, you stop being grateful." We need to be grateful!! God has given us all and if we are selfish and stop being grateful for all that he has done for us, we begin to not lead happy lives. Be grateful! Pray to our Heavenly Father and tell him how grateful you are!

Now that that has been said, it is hard to be grateful. I had my worst day on the mission this week because I stopped being grateful. I was too worried about myself and I was getting caught up in how hard this experience is. Guess what, things are hard but God always provides a way for us to overcome the things that we are faced with. 2 Nephi 2:2. He consecrated our afflictions for our gain! Some people have more afflictions than others and you may continue to ask "why me." It is because you can handle it and you have something to learn! If we become grateful for our trials and all that we have been blessed with, life becomes so much more fun. God wants you to be happy and have fun. Stop feeling bad for yourself and do what you can and trust in God!

Now, with THAT said, some fun things that have been going on in Japan:

-Menoru San stopped smoking and is having his baptismal interview on Tuesday! We are getting things figured out for his baptism on Saturday! How awesome is that.

-I gave my first blessing of comfort to my companion this week. It was my first blessing I have given and... it was a really cool experience. It is so worth it to be worthy to exercise priesthood power

-People here in Japan are so self reliant. At the grocery stores, you buy how many bags you need for the groceries and you bag them yourself! They are also really clean and into recycling too. It's a fun culture change

Alright, I did terrible at taking pictures again this week but... here are a few!

That is my desk, it is where all the magic happens! And, btw, it is almost never that clean but... I tried to make it look nice for the picture

White chocolate kit kats?! Ya, delicious. They have really nice random treats here

We knocked This five story apartment and this was the view from the top floor. It kinda reminded me of Utah!

Just a funny picture of my companion through my waterbottle

Some peoples' lawns are their pride and joy here. This one was super nice! I love the trees here

And the last one is just a little ramen shop across the street from where we live. Other than that, things are going well. Thank you for your prayers! Please continue to do so and be grateful!

Brower Choro