Awesome Week!

This week was great. I'll start from the beginning - actually no, I'll just go to where it gets good - haha,  honestly from Monday to Friday we had pretty much nothing. Just finding a lot and rain. Which, by the way, when your job is centered around handing out paper (Book of Mormon, fliers, etc..) rain days make things hard. I am not a fan of rain - haha but oh well. So on Saturday we had a mission blitz thing where every companionship had to hand out 3 copies of the  Book of Mormon. We had given out our two after teaching 3 lessons that day, and on our way back we were runing out of time. So, five minutes before curfew, we saw a guy walking close to the church. We decided to take the chance and it turned out being M**** who I met the other day. He lives by the church and had been to church and stuff. We then went to the church and gave him a tour and then gave him a Book of Mormon. So we did our three and saw an amaing miracle. He was in the perfect spot at the perfect time. God is so real. We had tried so hard to get those Books out but still had one more and because we tried hard, he was right there at the last second ready to take the Book. wooh!! Before that too, we housed a huge 15 story apartment and found a family at the top. We talked to the mom for like 15 minutes at the doorstep and then asked if there was a husband so we could come back again. Right at that second the dad comes walking up behind us from work and we were like , "oh no." because usually the husbands aren't for it and we have to give the mom to the sisters or just no one teaches. But this dad walks up and was super nice and actually ave us two drinks!! wooh! so we will visit again.
 
We also have a new investigator Y**** who is 21 and cool and is meeting us for third time in a row today. Oh yeah!!! all of our investigators are young and cool. First time in my mission haha not crazy and old :P.
 
Yesterday was the conference and it was amaizng . It was a mini general conference. The presiding bishop was there with the president  of the seventy and Elder Ballard. The best thing was I prayed before he walked in to confirm to me that he really was a servant and apostle of God. He walked in and I truly did feel it. It's not like I just hyped myself up either. I really felt it and it went great. It's a different feeling. You get hyped up for a game and a movie of something like that and that is a man made emotion that you feel. I remember I felt it so strong before the Final Four game a couple of years ago. But the feeling I got from the apostle was the Spirit. It was really from another source. I know the prophets are true. We got some good tips for teaching non-Christians. I loved it.
 
After email I am eating sushi. I love sushi. So this week is starting off good too haha I love you all. I am happy for Aunt Karen. Ganbatte!!!!!!!!! oh yeah, i was also chosen out of 400 missionaries to sing in the 10 man choir. I am so good at singing. We did really well. I kind of embelished that actually haha I am still not the best at singing, at all haha and the reason I was in the choir was because our zone had a couple of choir people and the director, so I just was lucky haha but for the rest of my life I can say I was chosen out of 400 and thats techinically not a lie:P

Love,
Elder Proctor
 
A good friend we are teaching

Not sure what this is...

Out of our apartment at night.

 
 
Kamagaya is awesome! ‏
 
I'll start with a pretty cool miracle. We only have one key to our apartment. The other Elders forgot to leave it in the mailbox on Saturday so we were stuck at night time when we wanted to eat. So we went out to visit someone who ended up not being there, then we got back and they still hadn't brought the key back. So we decided to go pass out English fliers at the station and we were there for three minutes, when a guy starts walking up to me. He said, "this is done at a church, right?" and I said, "yeah". He said he had gone to our church when he was little and liked the hymns and stuff. He also said he lived by the church. I talked to him and invtied him to church and he said he will start coming next week. he is 19, has interest in Church. I got his number, and as he walked off, the other Elders called and said, hey, the key is back now. So cool how God works in mysterious ways. He forced us to be out there 'till we found him. Pretty coolね。His name is M***. I have been texting him a lot.
 
We had the biggest Eikaiwa (English Class) attendance ever for here. Two other high school students came, K*** and H***, and K*** is actually Christian!?!? So we are starting to try to meet with them .Pretty cool miracle week.
 
I also was able to go on a split with one of the Elders who was in my MTC room for the first time. We were able to talk about how much has changed and how much better it is. I was able to talk to him and he said he learned a lot while we were in the MTC together. It was really spiritual.
 
Funny story - this week was the second week of my mission where I was given $100. The first was in Chiba at the station when a drunk guy gave me a $100 and I had to basically yell and force him to take it back. I was like " I WILL HAVE TO GO BACK TO AMERICA IF I TAKE THIS. TAKE IT BACK!!!" so that was the first experience and this past week one of our eikaiwa students, S***, comes up to me and in his 70 year old Japanese English accent told me "Here is a love letter." he gave me a letter, it had some decent English in it and what I thought was just 10 dollars. So I was like ok, i'll make him take it back after everyone leaves later. I tried and he refused so I was just like, ok, ill try again next week, because we aren't allowed to take mony. I looked at it again and it turns out it was 100 dollars?!?! SO im kind of stuck right now. I hope he'll take it back this Wednesday - haha.
 
Pretty cool week. I love you all. Cool thing too is S*** is meeting with the missionaries this week again in Kisarazu. Pray for that to go well. Maybe I'll get to go back and baptize him:)) that'd be cool. I love you!! Havea great week and always remember who we represent!

Love,
Elder Proctor
プロクター長老
 
 
3 New Friends from English Class

I Love Teaching Primary in Japan... Soooo Cute

Ward member with American Son

Elder Crockett and Me - MTC buds


 
 
 

Great emails from everyone this week!
 
I think these are the best emails I have read my entire mission. Everyone sounds like they are doing great and growing so much spiritually. It is amazing to see how much God does to help those who follow Him. One thing I have learned is that without a doubt, those who make the choice to follow God, are blessed. They have better lives. Maybe not money, or anything like that, but they do have real happiness. Happiness is based in families, but even if you put 100% of your trust in family, that is still not a solid foundation. It is number two behind God, but it is still not that 100% you can get from God. There are plenty of great families in Japan, but without God, they are missing that one aspect that will make them an immovable foundation instead of just a sturdy one. If you make family and God the two most important things above anything else in your life, you will be happy. I also know that God fulfills His promises and He is unchanging. His morals and the laws of all the universe do not change. Men's minds and understanding of science and morals change constantly, however God, who is perfect, never changes. That is why it is honestly the logically smart path to follow Him. He is real and is there if we just seek after Him. I know that He speaks to us in many different ways. One way was like Hannah said, through miracles.
 
I was in the MTC and obviously struggling and a miracle helped the two of us. I also know God answers prayers. I fasted in the MTC when I was choosing what I was going to do. I thought about my future with God, and my future if I decided to turn back and put God as number 2 or 3 in my life. When I prayed about those two options the thoughts of turning back did not mean I was going to darkness, but my future did not seem clear. I truly had a "stupor of thought." When I thought of doing my mission and following God, putting Him first, my future seemed clear. I knew I would have a happy family with my loved ones and people would be happier.
 
Through the Spirit I was able to be guided on the choices of my life and now I am really seeing the benefits. I can't wait to tell you more about the experiences I have had and how I know without a shadow of a doubt, that God does not change, He is perfect, and following Him leads to true, unending happiness.
 
So I had a great week. on Tuesday I really learned again that there are prepared Japanese people!! We found a guy named O*** who had tons of interest and then across the street, a lady named Y*** who we referred to the sisters and she is doing great. I love seeing Japanese people who are ready to come to Christ. On Saturday we taught our new friend Y***. For the first time in my mission I taught in depth about the priesthood and dispensations. We usually just have to say, we have it and people are like ok - haha,  but this time he had questions and I really gained a testimony of the Priesthood and latter-day direction and revelation. I love it. Today we will visit our friends I*** in apartment 37 - haha " 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls. Alma 37:7" - we are those little means - haha probably would confound the wise how by small, maybe sometimes silly means, we see miracles haha. I love you all so much. I am so happy to see everyones progress.

I love you and am so thankful for everything. Have a great week!!!

Love,
Elder Proctor
Sorry about the Glare

Buddhist Shrine


 
 
I'm Staying....
 
Its not a surprise at all but I am staying in Kamagaya! wooh. Elder Fountain and I will keep going. I am now at transfer 12 of 16. That feels weird. I am now a district leader again too. I am excited because I feel a lot more prepared than last time I was a District Leader -haha. I have decided I am going to focus on Love, Light, and being a finisher this transfer and for the rest of my mission.
 
We had a conference where Elder Aoyagi of the seventy came. He is the only Japanese Seventy. It was fun having a full conference in Japanese. I loved it. They talked about being finishers, not just starters and loving the Japanese people. He was converted when he was 17 because the missionaries brought light into his life so we need to do that. I love Japan even more now and it is just my focus to be a Japanese missionary. I am now in the process of reading Preach My Gospel and writing tips on the side for Japanese missionaries because by August I want to finish and have my own PMG for Japanese missionaries - type of thing. I am excited. Elder Aoyagi also said he got married within 3 months of returning from his mission and he told us "beat my record." So I think I am taking that to heart haha:P  It came from a general authority so, yeah its true haha:)
 
We had a little bit slower week. It was windy. And by windy I mean I hate the wind - haha.  It destroyed us. It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo windy. Plus, my tire went flat, 5 out of the 7 days. I bought a new tube, we did a 1 hour bike ride away, went flat.....again. So I am pretty angry with my bike now. But I'll keep trying. We played basketball with K*** last week and also yesterday we found 3 Sri Lankan guys. So that's interesting haha. Best thing of the week though was S*** baptism. He got baptized on Saturday and it went great. He testified a lot and is really prepared. It was fun to go back to my old area and se everyone. I really enjoyed it and it really just makes this whole experience worth it to see people develop a relationship with God. I love it. I love Japan and everything. S***is Chinese though haha.
 
I dont know if this will work, but here is a link a member put up on facebook. 1/3 of our misison was at the conference and we sang the mission song at it after we ate. Also, here is something cool: in December, Elder Fountain and I were looking for a member who ended up not existing. So we tried to house around there. We started with some apartments but they were ancient so we decided to go to some newer ones down the road. It was one of those places where there are just a million of them so we didn't know where to start. Elder Fountain asked, "Hey, what's your favorite number?" I answered, "7." He said, "Mine's three." So we went to number 37. We found a young couple named I*** and they are investigating now. I just thought that was a cool funny miracle you'd like to hear. I can't remember if I told you already.
 
I really love missionary work. I love the affect its having on all of you too. I have so much Dendo Fire now.  I love you all. Have a great week!!

Love,  Elder Mason Proctor
 
New Friend Accepting Christ into his life.... Wonderful!

Apartment Selfie

I am a Ramen Master - ラーメンマスター