Fukuroi is AWESOME

Hey everyone,

Fukuroi is legit. I love it here. This week has been fantastic, actually. Where to start?

First of all, N-SAN HAS BEEN BAPTIZED!!!! I found an email from him this morning in my inbox and he said that during the baptismal service he really wanted to see me. Dang, man. I wish I could`ve been there; when I'm transferred out, I can't go back. But it doesn`t matter in the slightest because regardless of my presence or not, N-san has been blessed with the most desirable and wonderful presence of all....the Spirit of God. And I am SO happy for him.

Regarding baptisms here in Fukuroi, Naruse M-san has expressed OVER and OVER how excited she is to be baptized. She and her husband came to church yesterday and we had a good lesson with them. We had to move the baptismal date back to March 8th to allow time to finish teaching her the lessons, but it`s still gonna happen, and I am STOKING. She is super prepared.

The T-sans came to inspect our apartment. Look, Mom, how smiley they are.

Okay, so last Monday for P-Day we went to this SICK bird zoo thing in Kakegawa. It`s called "Kachouen" and it`s basically the most legit bird park you will ever see. You go in and there are crazy birds everywhere, and most of them are not caged. You can just purchase little cups of food and walk around and birds will just fly right up to you and sit on your shoulder waiting for you to feed them. There are owls, parrots, penguins, ducks, geese, swans, flamingos, toucans.....

But behold, this is not all.......THEY HAVE EMUS!!!!! You know, those crazy freaky giant Australian flightless birds with RED EYES that attack people in the wild and poke their eyes out?

Yeah. They have them. And you can go into their enclosure, where there are like a dozen of them, and run around with them and feed them and touch them and stuff. HOLY CRAP.

Friday I had a companion exchange with Elder M, from Brazil (my current zone leader). I met him a couple months ago when he came to Ichinomiya before a leadership training at Mission Headquarters in Nagoya. We became instant friends back then, and we were stokin to be able to serve together for a day. We talked to a lot of people and saw a lot of great things. That night we got to go play basketball with a member from the branch here (Bro. O, from Fukuoka) and a bunch of his work buddies. We had a fun time playing basketball, and the best part, we built good friendships with his work friends and invited them to church and to our weekly English class. They were interested. Legit.

The other day Elder Ch and I went to visit a member who lives FAR AWAY and let me tell you, my legs probably grew double in size from biking over all those hills. It was BEAUTIFUL though. We actually got kinda lost somewhere in these beautiful hills in the middle of nowhere. It was kinda fun. We eventually found the place too, so it was all good.

OH and I GOT TO SEE THE OCEAN!!!!! We went to visit a member family, the A family, who live right by the coast. Let me tell you about that visit though, because it was actually probably in the list of top ten spiritual experiences I`ve had on my mission so far. Nothing crazy, but it was just a really good feeling. The A family is an older couple who have seven children, six of whom don`t ever go to church and one of whom is not even baptized. The parents are super strong Church members though. They are the sweetest people ever. The father had a stroke and therefore it`s very hard for him to talk, but he ALWAYS has a smile on and he is one of my favorite people. The mother is so nice. We had a long talk with them trying to help them help their children. It`s very hard for them. We shared some uplifting messages with them and then the mother prayed for us at the end, and it was among the most beautiful and sincere prayers I have ever heard. She pleaded for guidance for her family and thanked God for all of her blessings. It was just really special.

Since we were so close to the coast we dropped by to take a look because I was dying to see the ocean again. It`s been so long! We spent 5 minutes looking and taking pictures and then went back to work. It was a nice break from a particularly long day.

Dang, there`s so much more I want to share. Elder Ch and I saw some amazing things this week. Seriously, I really wish I could just type out EVERYTHING. But suffice it to say that I have seen the Lord do amazing things here in Fukuroi already. Literally amazing. I love it here. I love Japan. I love the Gospel. I love all of you. And I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and my Father in Heaven, and His Spirit.

Peace and love,

Elder Naylor

ネイラー長老