B*** is going to get baptized next week! He was so ready and is so excited for his baptism. He really is a miracle of the mission. He was a referral and it was awesome to hear his story about how he gained hope from reading the Book of Mormon and saw how happy the lives of church members are. And from that, be able to come to church and obtain the blessings for himself. I am really excited for him. I'll send pictures of his baptism next week. 

 

That was so great to hear about the talks and that is cool about Brother Reinen being a Bishopric Counselor. I got my new companion this week. He is Elder Packer. He is pretty interesting and we are getting along great.  We are getting a lot of things going and doing a lot of work. Today we were able to go to Costco with one of our investigators. it was pretty fun and we were able to talk to L*** about faith and always relying in God.

 

I have learned that so much in my mission. I am now at the hump day mark. It is a really surreal feeling. I look back to last year where I was and where I am now and it is completely different. I can't believe how much God has changed my life. Last year I tried to do too much by myself, and that made it kind of hard because in case you haven't noticed, we are not perfect and we can't do everything. But as I have relied on God to take care of my loved ones, and also just to guide my life and just to trust in what He wants for me and what I have been taught is best, I have seen a huge change in my life that has been sometimes hard but I definitely will never forget or regret how I have grown to this part.  I have really learned how much Christ can change a life. He really understands us and we can always know that because of Him we have hope.  I also learned that prayer is vital and so is scripture study. Through prayer and scripture study I have really been learning how God can effect us and keep us going.

 

I love you all so much. I really am thankful to be a missionary and it really is the best thing I could have ever done. I miss you all so much and I love you. I know that from here on out it is technically down hill, but I plan on you getting better and me getting better and it just being an upward journey to getting better. I know that we all can do this and continue to come closer even though we are not together physically. All of our spiritual relationships are getting so much stronger and I am so thankful for that. I love you all so much and you really mean so much to me. I love the Japanese people and am so thankful to serve them. I love you all!!!!!!!!

Love,
プロクター長老

 

 

 

It's so awesome to already be back emailing you!!!!! I love you all so much!!! So we had transfer calls again today and guess what?? I am staying! Wooh! I love Chiba. My companion, Elder Sakamoto, is leaving to go be one of the new Assistants to the President though! Pretty cool huh. My new companion is Elder Packer who I already know so it'll be fun I think. I learned a lot these past 6 weeks with Elder Sakamoto. I learned a TON of Japanese. I feel so much closer to the Japanese people now because I feel like I can understand them a lot better. I really enjoyed being his companion.

 

We had inerviews with President Budge this past week and it was fun gettting to talk to him and Sister Budge. They both have been so obedient and trusted in God their whole lives and really set a great example for us. They also asked me how I was doing and it felt good to tell them although it is obviously hard, I really enjoy helping the Japanese people and fulfilling my calling as a missionary. They both were really happy to say that I am looking a lot better then I did last year when I first met them, haha.

 

For one crazy story this week a guy called me and had found an Eikaiwa flier. He called was suicidal and wanted help - nothing to do with learning English, just help. I talked to him for an hour and 15 minutes. He said he just wanted "light" and for life to be happy. I talked to him for a long time and he ended up living in Kisarazu. I referred him to the Kisarazu missionaries and they took care of it. It was one of the most stressful parts of my mission I think but it made me thankful for missionaries. I was able to trust another 19 year old with a suicidal man. It's pretty rare in this world that 19 year olds could handle that situation so I was really impressed by our misisonaries. They are taking care of him in Kisarazu now.

 

Also we had three people join the Church this past week in Chiba. The other Elders had two, and the sisters had one. It was awesome to see and there was a huge meal after haha President Budge came down and he actually did a lesson with one of our investigators. It was awesome having the Mission President dendo (do missionary work) your investigator haha. It was a big testimony to me of how good and inspired by God he is.

 

Also, we ate dinner with a less active last Tuesday and he bought Pizza Hut and McFlurries. It was a pretty fun experience but I realized how I can't eat near as much any more haha.  I have really grown a lot on my mission. It's coming up on a year now and I am so happy with how I have grown. I have a stronger testimony and know God will take care of us and our loved ones if we trust in Him. I love you all so much!!!!

Love.
Elder Mason Proctor

 

 

 

Kon'nichiwa!!  こんにちは

So the guy who sent us the awesome email his name is B***. He came to Chiba ward for a year straight a couple of years ago. Then he thought it wasn't for him. A few months ago life got hard and he was struggling but he read the Book of Mormon and Bible which made him happy and gave hope and allowed him to "see the light". So he decided to come back to church and be baptized and that is when I called him and his email came. We taught him today and the first thing he did was talk about his baptismal date for the 31st and if it was possible. We told him he needed the five lessons and a testimony. He said ok and we taught lesson 1 and 3 and he knew all of it and had a testimony of all of it. He loves it and just desires baptism and coming to God. He knows and follows the Word of Wisdom already and specifically asked for Sundays off to keep the Sabbath Day Holy. His wife is Japanese and used to not approve of church, but now is ok with it. We talked about eternal marriage today in priesthood and he said he is patient and one day wants his wife to be baptized and to be married in the temple. B*** is prepared! It was so cool and awesome to see someone who was so affected by the Gospel and so ready. I'm so excited!

Also, I***, my friend from Kisarazu, he got baptized!!!! So happy!! He finally realized it was time. It was so cool to hear that. I did not have time to go,  but it was still great. And since I'm talking about baptism a lot, yesterday I gave my first baptismal interview. It was so cool. The mans name is N*** and he lives in Narita's area. I did it at his house so my interview was done sitting cross legged on the floor in a Japanese apartment with a 60 year old japanese man. It was pretty cool compared to the bishops office at home haha :P - he was ready and excited for baptism. I went on splits this week and while away at another area we were going to play basketball but I got an allergic reaction!!! We had to rush back and I only had a little medicine. I swelled up pretty funny lookingly haha and ended up being ok though haha

Love,
Elder Mason Proctor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we had a pretty interesting week and I'll start with the first miracle. We got a referral from a member about a guy from Canada. He had met with missionaries before but stopped. I called him and he didn't answer so I left a message to get a hold of us. Here is the email he sent a couple of days later.....

"Hi guys,

As I'm sure Y*** has mentioned to you, I would like to come back to the Church. I work full time six days a week and I take care of my three month old daughter when I'm home so meeting during the week is out of the question. Instead this is how I want to do it:

I'd like to start coming to church on Sundays, starting this Sunday. After the main service, I would like to have the lessons. Last time, I had the lessons with the missionaries with Y*** leading. I would like to have that arrangement again. Please ask Y*** if he is willing. Church business in Chiba is conducted in Japanese so it's important that I learn the gospel in Japanese.

As for the baptism, I'm aiming for August 31st."

 

I also ate with our investigator N*** this week. He bought us tons of food and it was good and bad too haha he fed us pig intestine and liver at one point. Not good haha but the other meat was really good. We also got to play basketball this week and it was super fun. There are three Filipinos that are pretty good and fun to play with. Also I want to say thanks to the Champion Family. I got their letter and it meant a lot to me to get that letter. It really made me happy and happy to be a missionary. Tell them thanks:) We also ate with the F**** family yesterday. They were so nice and I enjoyed it so much. They were completely fluent in English haha it is so funny that most of the members are somewhat English fluent because of the missionaries. But it is also funny because they all talk like 19-26 year old guys haha just the way they react and their English mannerisms is like us I think haha its just because they imitated us haha.

Your Utah trip sounds like so much FUN! I love the pictures haha and I love you all so much too:) I love the temple and I am looking forward to when we all get to visit together next year or so:) You all look great and mom and dad, your emails made me so happy to be your son and also to be part of our family. I love you so much. You guys are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The temple is so special and really is God's house. I love it so much and I especially love the Houston and Tokyo temple. One day hopefully we can all come to Tokyo together:))

Love,

Elder Mason Proctor

 

A Great Family in Chiba

An awesomely cool Friend

Shabu Shabu

Elder White

I gave this guy a ninja turtle for his birthday - he loved it!

Another great picture at the baptism.

Basketball in Chiba-shi Fun Times!!!