This week was really awesome. Egawa finally got baptized!!!!!! It was great! before that we had some trouble with relations in the branch and were worried about whether or not we were going to be able to do it at all, but everything turned out all-right. 
I really learned a lot about the Atonement and how much the Savior cares for us. So many of you helped my by your letters and emails. Thank you! I really felt God's love by your support and words. Thank you! 
I know that the Savior knows and loves us. I am so grateful for His infinite Atonement.


This is Elder Jameson, Egawa Etsuko, and I just before her Baptism! We had a lot of trouble getting her to this point but it was so awesome to see her finally be able to be baptized. 

Happiness

This week was kind of crazy. Malcom Choro and my companion Oshima Choro had to prepare for zone training meeting and then for mission president interviews on Monday. For most of the week we have had to plan our days together, all four of us. Oshima Choro and I would go in and sit on the tatami with the other two missionaries, and then Oshima Choro would talk about zone stuff with Malcolm Choro in Japanese for a while, then we would finally figure out that I would just be working with Chung Choro for so and so amount of time, and then he and I would sit down and plan how long we should find on the street, and how many Book of Mormon we wanted to give out, and how many people we wanted to talk to, and so on and so forth. After that we all rushed to be in our futons on time and I would just kind of lay there while Malcolm Choro talked and we finally all got to saying our prayer. 

Every night I try and tell my companions why I love them, but we don't have bikes right now because of the recent transfers and so we are running a lot, and I am just so tired by the end of the day that I try and stay awake until Elder Oshima Ends his personal prayer, so that I can tell him, but I always fall asleep before he does... Man I love missionary work.

The other day, Chung Choro and I had four or five hours to just go out and dendo (missionary work/ finding) and we taught something like ten totsuzen (sudden or quick) lessons to the people that we talked to, and gave out four Book of Mormon. It was Awesome, and I was Dog-tired when we got back, but I was thrilled with the work. We always go "streeting" whenever we have anytime that is not filled. Yesterday Chung Choro and I went out again for a little bit and He said "I'm happy to be doing dendo, I don't even know why, I'm just happy!" 

Man! what a blessing that was to hear! What I change in tune from what he had been singing  before then! 

This week looks like it is going to be jam-packed too, I'm looking forward to it. Oh... before I forget, Nagasaki got to welcome a new member this week into the branch. His name is Yamasaki Hirouki. I found him with Harvey Choro and Malcolm Choro before the transfer ended. What a blessing! He is the fourth baptism I have seen. I am so blessed! He is so amazing!

I know the Church is true. I know the Savior lives. His Atonement is the single-most important event ever to occur. Prayers are answered and Heavenly Father is merciful.

Love to all.

Especially Family, during the Easter season. 

Elder Bevan

Baptism!

 This is an investigator that Harvey, Malcolm Choro, and I found. He gave up smoking and was prepared for baptism within two weeks of our meeting. What a blessing! 

Brother Yamasaki! Shiawase!!

Baptism!

This week went by like a blur. Le Thanh Tung was baptized on the 11th by Elder Harvy only a few hours after I finished writing my letter. On Sunday I was able to confirm him a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

I know the Church is true and that the fullness of the everlasting gospel is found in it. 

Mostly this week we just worked. We "streeted", and we planned, and we were able to attend a district (a stake) priesthood meeting with the recently baptized Zahn. In church we sat in class with three members who were each baptized in the last month. It was so cool! 

Besides that we just tried to find the people who are prepared. As always, miracles attended us. On Wednesday we have an appointment with a man who we met a few weeks ago after just bumping into as we were parking our bikes. He is awesome!

The three friends that we were hoping could be baptized this last Sunday couldn't make it. They are all from Nepal and their financial situation is dire. They do not know what to do, and in many ways this makes it hard for them to make the gospel the focus of their attention. We are praying hard for them, but as of yet have not quite seen how the Lord will do His work with them. I hope that we might be able to find a way to get the seed of the gospel rooted in them. 

That is basically my hope for all whom we are teaching, and for all.

The Lord is Good,

my love to all!

Elder Bevan

Nagasaki

OK, so things are kind of hectic here. Right now we are at the church preparing the baptismal font for Tung to be baptized. He should be here any minute now. He is from Vietnam, he is twenty seven, and I couldn't love him more. He is a great man, and I hope that I can be like him in a lot of ways... besides that, on Sunday we have three baptisms planned. We also got our transfer calls today and so P-day is on Tuesday (sorry, I didn't know). Elder Harvey and I are not going to be moving.

 

In the short time that I have then I want to tell you a little bit about Nagasaki. The name Nagasaki actually means "long hills", and it is fitting. Everything is hills. The tops of the hills kind of break through buildings where they are the highest and are all covered in green. Nagasaki is (I think) the oldest international trading port of Japan. It was the place where Christianity was first introduced, and where traders from all over the world came to do business. There was a time when the only connection that Japan had to the outside world was through a tiny island called Dejima in Nagasaki (a place I visited my first week here). The dutch traders that stayed there, could not even leave the island. At that time Christianity was outlawed and Christians martyred. 

Since that time many things have changed, among the major events of the city's history, of course was the atomic bomb. The "peace park" is here and a few weeks ago we visited the atomic bomb museum. That is something that I think will never leave my mind. 

Today, Nagasaki's rich heritage of international cultures still thrives. Last week we spent a Monday evening with the Ohira Family (a Family Home Evening type thing) at the  Nagasaki Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival is a Chinese celebration that was taken to Nagasaki because of its trading ties. While there, we saw thousands of lanterns strung across the street and over the river. It was beautiful. I was also able to see a Chinese dragon, and that is something I will never forget. I wish I could send a video.

While I was there I was able to get a better grasp on my purpose here, and I realized how much I really do love these people. I love the people of Japan more than I can tell. I love my God, and am immensely grateful for the blessings he has given me. I pray that He will give the power to continue in His graces. I love Him.

Truly yours, with love,

Elder Bevan

Baptism!

Hello Everyone! This week in Nagasaki was beautiful. The weather was wonderful and the fruit trees across from our apartment are in bloom. On the 28th I was able to baptize Zhan Xeio Jie, and then to stand in for his confirmation this Sunday. What a great blessing! If all the world fell to pieces and he only stayed faithful then I would be happy. What a blessing! 

There are a lot of things that we do that are just words on paper, but if we were the most organized, prepared and studious missionaries in all of the world, we couldn't do a thing greater than bringing that simple blessing into the lives of our brothers and sisters. When we see our friends begin to learn about the truth of the gospel, we see the change that it makes for them in their faces and their actions. The Gospel really does change people. I know it more now then ever. I am so grateful for the Atonement and work of Jesus Christ that makes that change a reality for all of us!  I really cannot say how much that means to me. I know The Savior lives! I know that this is His truth! I feel willing to anything for my God.

Working hard,

Truly yours, Elder Bevan

JAPAN!!!!

Japan is awesome!! I arrived in Fukuoka after something like over a full  24 hours of traveling.... I`m still not exactly sure  :) We slept that night in the mission home (which is underneath the temple), were trained a little, had a lot of Japanese food, and then went out to do some work with some of the more experienced missionaries.
The particular missionary that I was set up with had a lesson to teach to a couple of guys from Nepal who spoke a little English and a little Japanese. We taught the message of the restoration to them and were astounded at how prepared they were. Before they came to Japan they had studied Christianity and they had a lot of questions. During the lesson I asked if they had any about what we were saying and they said "no, you just gave us a lot of answers".... That was my first day here, and they committed to baptism. I have never seen such a miracle, I really cant express quite how amazing it was.

After we "streeted" for a while we had dinner with the president and his wife, and then found out our new areas and our companions. I was sent to Nagasaki, and my new companion is Elder Harvy, from Utah. He is awesome.

I met him the next day, and they took us to our apartment and showed me around.

Everything is narrow and small. We "housed" yesterday and it was probably the craziest thing I have ever done, ever. There are like a billion houses all scrunched together with crazy winding cement pathways threaded between them and stairs and just craziness... It`s hard to tell the front and back doors apart and for like the first hour I wasn`t even sure that we were even like supposed to be that close to peoples stuff, but the sidewalks that thread between the houses are totally their "streets" and it`s just normal. Besides that, sacrament was awesome, we had five investigators there, and four of them have baptismal dates!

I dont have time to write more but I love this. I love it so much! I love the people here more than I ever expected! I am anxious to be about the Lords work. I am grateful that I can be here serving Him and His people.
Love to all! 

Elder Bevan