Consuming of my Flesh

Herro, everybody!

Last week was transfer week, which means that everything is all over the place. Missionaries came and went and we're now set to start this transfer! It's kind of sad to see how all the older missionaries I've always looked up to are gone now. It's kind of sad... but I'm really excited to meet all these fresh missionaries and introduce them to missionary work in Japan! About half of the missionaries in the Osaka zone have just barely come to Japan! EXCITEMENT!

Here is a cool scripture I bumped into:

2 Nephi 4:21

He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

In Japanese the "consuming of my flesh" part has an even clearer connotation of how fire consumes something. But just think about it: to be filled with His love to the point where your body is consumed as though by fire? Whoa.

As I was reading this verse though, I noticed how you can put this in a different perspective as well. In the scriptures the word "flesh" often refers to the natural man, the worldly us; a part of our mortal or fallen nature, as described in the Bible Dictionary (see "Flesh").

So Christ's love consumes our flesh... our mortal and fallen nature. It's through His infinite Atonement for us that we are able to put off the natural man and become like saints, that we can take our imperfection and weaknesses and turn them into perfection and strengths. Christ's pure love casts out any form of darkness that may be in us and turns us into shining beacons of light. Through His love, we can become like Him.

How can we be filled with His love? How can we help other be filled with this love as well?

I love the scriptures. I learn so much from them. They have helped me understand the countless ways in which God shows His love for us. God loves each and every one us infinitely and so does His Son, who showed us the way and gave up His life just so we can be happy forever. We're so stinkin' LUCKY! Dang, the Gospel is the BOMB!

I hope you all have a wonderful week filled with awesomeness and fun stuff like that. I love you all a lot! See ya next week!

～聖徒長老、ELDER SANTOS

P.S.: Ate a big fat 500g steak. Didn't get the meat-sweats! 

#WowLookAtMeI'mSoCool 

#I'mNotFatIPromise

Walking the Ducks

Hello, you all!

Another transfer passed. I don't know about all of you, but for me it just flew by. It's insane.

I'm really excited for this transfer! I've been able to gauge myself really well and to determine where I'm at and where I need to go. I've set some good goals that will really stretch me and I can't wait to increase my potential! I really love transfers, because they're kind of like a fresh start; they give me a chance to restart and do even better than last time.

I will be staying as a zone leader over here in Abeno (Osaka). The total amount of missionaries in our zone will increase and I can't wait to meet all the new missionaries arriving in our Zone next Thursday, among whom are some familiar faces as well! YEAH!!

It's difficult to describe precisely what happened last week. We were out and about, working our heads off, of course. We visited members and got to know them better and strengthen them, we had a companion exchange, a sudden stake coordination meeting, we taught English to a bunch of 12-year-olds in a class whose teacher has met Arnold Schwarzenegger in the flesh, we walked some ducks, we had a wonderful district meeting about helping our investigators have spiritual experiences... It was a really fun week. There is never a dull moment here in Osaka. Every day you'll experience something peculiar. It's special; I really love this area. Come visit Osaka, if you have the chance. お勧めです！

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you!

～聖徒長老、ELDER SANTOS

The Eye is the Light of the Body

Another busy week passes over here in Osaka and I am pooped.

We did a companion exchange last week, which was really good! Even though every appointment fell through, we had a very good day! We were able to meet with a lot of people on the street here and we found some with interest as well! At first, I felt like I was kind of clumsy and I was a little bummed because we weren't able to meet with anyone we had planned beforehand (I didn't remember how to get to one of them, even though we go there regularly), but I soon put those thoughts away and focused on making the time we had that day as effective as possible. In between trying to visit the investigators, we tried to talk to as many people as we could handle on the street. We were able to teach 5 lessons in about 3 hours of in-between finding. To some it may not be much, but I felt happy with the fruits of our hard work.

I believe that if I would've stayed down about our appointments falling through and me not being able to find the way, I wouldn't have been able to actually invite people to come unto Christ. It reminds me of a scripture I really like.

3 Ne 13:22

The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

If our eyes are single or, in other words, if "our eyes look correctly" (as it literally says in Japanese), we will be full of light; we will radiate happiness, love and self-confidence. If we look at the bright side of things and have hope, everything will be alright. It is all about attitude. If you face your future with a smile, your future will be bright.

I love this Gospel. I remember being easily affected in a bad way by set-backs and slip-ups. But those things are all part of our learning experience here on earth. Jesus Christ is able to change our hearts and shape us into brighter, happier and more positive people. Thanks, Jesus!

I LOVE all of you! I hope you have a wonderful week!!

～聖徒長老、ELDER SANTOS

MLC & ZTM

Hey, everybody!

This week has been jam-packed with meetings. It was a lot of new stuff for me, too! The very first time I went to Mission Leader Conference and did training at a Zone Training Meeting!

MLC was amazing! We had president Mills skype in from the MTC to train us and it was awesome! I really learned so much stuff! It was like going to a General Conference! The fact that I'll be able to go every month (if I don't transfer out of here, that is) is something that really makes me happy.

I did my best to pass on the essentials of the MLC training to our zone at ZTM. I was kind of nervous before it started, but once it actually did everything went pretty smoothly. That's probably because our zone is so AWESOME, though. They're really cooperative and are really willing to share whatever experience and knowledge they have with the entire group. Actually, we (the zone leaders) didn't even do that much during ZTM: we just gave them the MLC stuff and then everyone basically trained each other. One thing that I also really liked this ZTM is that we actually assigned a few of our zone members to go to the stand and give a little training on Christlike attributes and teaching skills. It was super good!!

And then we had Stake Conference. It was really good, but I just wish the Japanese speakers would slow down a bit. Holy cow, they speak faster than machine guns spray bullets! Gah! Osaka, you're too fast for me!! Fortunately, President Welch was one of the speakers. I liked his talk, because it was really easy to understand (even though his Japanese is super good).

There was something in his talk that really stood out to me. He shared an experience where he recently received the new that one of his family members was being prepared to go to the temple by some one else and he expressed gratitude for something they did he couldn't. When he said that, I immediately recalled a scripture I had read recently, in Moses 7. In verse 18, it says: 

And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

If we are all unified in our desire and our vision and Zion is established in our homes, wards and stakes, there will be no poor among us, because those around us will make up for the lack of our own talent and ability. In Zion, everyone completes each other. It was a really sudden impression I had, as soon as the president shared that. And this impression is really relevant to our zone (as one of our goals is to "Be One" and establish Zion, so we can build the Kansai temple). 

How can I apply this myself? Something to chew on, for sure!

Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you have an awesome week, wherever you are! I LOVE YOU!!

～聖徒長老、ELDER SANTOS

P.S.: Have some MLC, ZTM and Zone Conference pictures!

The Works of God Made Manifest

Hello, everyone!

This week has been so tiring -- I don't even know how tired I am. But we've done well! Or, rather, God did well. Honestly, I feel like most of last week's work was brought to us, instead of us going out to work. A member treats you to some delicious homemade sushi at church, for instance, when all of a sudden a random man comes in and exclaims in slight disappointment "Oh, so they're not doing church today" (on a Saturday). We've had the privilege of sharing the abundance of sushi with this man and share a little bit about our beliefs and the Gospel. He even came back the next day and he wanted to learn a little more about our church. Hmm! Good job, Heavenly Father!

A cool scripture I bumped into: John 9:1-3

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Sometimes we have a lot of afflictions, hardships and trials in our lives. Sometimes we say: "What have I done to deserve this?" Earlier on my mission, I was really insecure and felt like I had nothing but weaknesses. I used to think I'd done something bad to receive all the "punishment". But, looking back, I can say that this is not the case. I'm a much more confident, happier missionary than I was before. Why? God had given me those circumstances (that seemed really harsh to me) in order for me to open my eyes and see God's hand aiding me and lifting me up. My testimony has grown a lot since my first day in Japan and I know for sure that it wasn't through my own power. God suffers us to have trials and hardships, because He wants us to witness and experience the enabling and cleansing power that comes from our faith in and our reliance on Him and His Son.

Heavenly Father loves you and so do I! I hope you have an awesome week!

Buh-bye!

～聖徒長老、ELDER SANTOS

Hope For A Better World

Hello, outside world!

This week has been a very good one! It's been really tiring for some reason. It seemed like normal missionary work, but my energy tanks are empty. Work consisted of falling flat on my face a lot, not knowing Japanese here and there and giving a pretty okay talk at Sacrament meeting yesterday. Dang, I love Abeno so much! It's completely different from any of my previous areas I have been in. It feels like a completely different pace -- a faster one, for sure. It even gets TOO fast, sometimes (which is why I fell flat on my face a couple of times)!

But I'm really grateful to be here in Osaka. I feel like the challenges are here to help me grow and become what I want to be. In fact, it reminds me of a cool scripture we've been focussing on lately:

Ether 12:4

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Hope is like a ship's anchor that makes us strong and unmovable even during the greatest of storms that life may bring us. To me, Osaka might be pretty stormy right now, but because I know that I'm doing His work and because I know that these experiences will shape me into what my Heavenly Father desires, I know that I'll be okay no matter what happens: I hope for a bright future.

What do you hope for and how is it your anchor?

A whole lot of love,

～エルダー・サントス、Erudaa Santosu

Hello Abeno!

Hullo, everybuddy!

This week has been great! Abeno is awesome! The ward is amazing, my companion is awesome, my zone consists of great missionaries and the area seems to have quite some momentum. Good stuff!

Oh yeah, by the way, I'm a zoneleader now. Congratulations, I suppose. It honestly doesn't feel different from being just a senior companion at all. I just have a phone as well and I actually have to follow up with missionaries in my zone. Right now, though, it feels as if I can't do anything at all to help my companion, or the area, or the zone. It was quite embarrassing, especially the follow ups:

"Good evening! How's Osaka going for ya?" 

-"I've been here longer than you." 

"Dang it."

I really want to help my zone! I need to improve myself and repent of my laziness and lack of accountability. I have realized that one of the biggest reasons why someone gets called to be a leader is for that person to learn what he still lacks and to repent and become a worthier, more capable missionary. Because, you know, God knows better than me what I need to grow and reach the next level of my personal progression. He knew that I needed to become a zone leader, because it would put the needed stress and increased responsibility on my shoulders for me to become stronger. I need this "trial" to become a better Santos長老. Blah blah blah...

Thank you so much for reading! You've come quite a ways, haven't you? I hope to see you next week! Have a great one!

That's a lot of love,

～聖徒長老, Elder SantosHell