week 83

I don't know how hot it is here but... It is hot. The humidity is insane!

It is also cicada season right now and they are everywhere and they are loud. It's always the best when you are walking by a tree up to someone's house and ten of them come flying out at your companion and he runs faster than you've ever seen him run before! It happens quite a bit.

Anyway,

We had some interesting opportunities this week to talk to Americans. You can usually guess whether or not the house you are knocking is going to be American or not by the license plate they have on their car... With that being said, we had picked an area we wanted to house and every place in that area was off base military housing full of ripped marines from South Carolina. Since I've spent most of my time on the mission talking to sweet little Japanese grannies in Japanese, talking to huge American military in English about the gospel is quite the change. But I'm grateful for the experience. Testifying in English has a different impact than testifying in Japanese. English is the "language of my heart" and thus, words and phrases have more meaning in English than Japanese. Testifying in English has been challenging because I've had to think about how much I truly believe what I am saying and it has been a good "testimony check" for me. I'm proud to say that I can testify boldly, in the language of my heart, that I know that God exists and that he loves us. I know that Jesus is the Christ and he fulfills that responsibility to its fullness. I know that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith and that by reading it, we can know more fully what it is that God would have us do in this life in order to return to him. It is that simple. And everyone deserves a chance to hear it and except it whether they are American, Japanese, or anywhere in between. "Onward, ever onward."

- Elder Brower