The chills & Pres. Welch

Hey there, beautiful peoples!!

This week has been HECTIC!! Tons of stuff going on! Let's get moving, shall we?

So, first off... I've caught the chills, HURRAY! It was pretty bad. I had pounding headaches, nausea, sore muscles, dizziness and tons o' that lovely FATIGUE. I wanted to rub my face on the wall. Mai nichi. Itsumon. Totemo byouki deshita, kedo ima, watashi wa motto genki desu yo! <>

(That's probably as slaughtered as my Nihongou <> gets.)

But let me tell you how blessed I am. The senkyoushitachi in our residence halls (dorms) are truly amazing. They visited me and told me stories to cheer me up, they brought food and water when I needed it... They even gave me this super sweet fuwa-fuwa na blanky <> to keep me warm. They shared their concerns and gave me advice to become better quickly. Aren't they just the swellest? I think they are the swellest.

But it wasn't just the awesome senkyoushitachi, though! The devotionals this week were breathtakingly good! We've had talks about "Inviting the spirit through singing" by Sister Perry (Elder Perry's wife) and about "The worth of souls" by Elder Christofferson. According to Sister Perry, keeping a hymn in your heart will enable you to feel the spirit better and to stay motivated. I definitely think that singing a hymn allows us to tune into the spirit better. A hymn is kind of like a prayer, but instead of talking with God, you're SINGING for Him!! It also helps me to stay focused. Whenever my thoughts would dwell, I would just remind myself of an awesome hymn and be back on track again! The hymn is strong with this one! The talk by Elder Christofferson was actually the highlight of my week, though. Last week I felt like I wasn't progressing at all. My Nihongou was sub-par, my scripture study was all over the place, my lesson-prep for my investigator felt one-sided (I couldn't give any good input)... I felt worthless. At that moment, I felt like I wasn't cut out for missionary work. What could I do, am I right?

So, as we were heading to the devotional, I said a prayer in my heart. A silent, emotional prayer: "Heavenly Father... what am I doing here? Am I really supposed to be a missionary? Am I not worthless?" I prayed for an answer. And immediately when Elder Christofferson started talking, I knew God had heard my prayer. His talk was so amazing and it really addressed all these questions I had. The worth of every single soul on this earth, is unimaginably great in God's eyes. Just because we make mistakes and commit sin, doesn't mean our worth has diminished. Our adversary, Satan, tries to break our will by telling us how sinful and wrong we are and by making us believe that God loves us less because of that.

That is false.

God loves us so much... Just think that every time you experience sorrow, God experiences that same sorrow. He wants us to be happy and to do our best. And through Jesus Christ's atonement, we can do the BEST of our best!! I know this is true. I will do my best. By relying on Christ, we can do anything.

It was an amazing devotional. I was filled with joy and newfound hope. I can be at ease now.

Oh, a few more things I wanted to mention: we met our Mission President!! President Welch and his wife!! He is big, bald and emotional... just like my dad!

(I love you, dad!)

No, he is an amazing mission president and I'm definitely looking forward to working with him! Gosh, so awesome!

Also, we went hosting new missionaries! I got to host someone going to the Netherlands! WHAAAAAAAT???

To my home ward in the Netherlands: Expect an Elder Andrew in the coming two years :P

Lastly: our douryougumi <> is getting better and better! Yes!! This is what I wanted!! We'll be able to be a wonderful team in no time!

I love you all so much and I'm looking forward to writing you all next week!

Stay awesome, lovelies!

~Santosu chourou