A New Area

Well to be honest im running out of time AGAIN! But lets go with important things first
> 1.) Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!! (your not getting younger) just thought i would kindly remind you! ha
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> 2.) I transfered to ADACHI still in Tokyo but not as city like as my last area but it is still good, im soooo excited! I also got a new Companion Elder Cheff from Mesa Arizona. hes pretty cool. Im goin Senior for my first time, kind of nervous but i was co-senior last transfer so it shouldnt be too different. But well for sure see miracles and Baptisms. We got the faith!
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> 3.) Big shout out to Aunt Ang! im soo sorry i havent written you and i would like to email you but only immediate family (mission president said) so im soooo sorry but i apprecieted that email, sounds like the whole family is still doin great. Congrats to RYAN on BYU im sooo jealous. Hell love it there! Im thinkin about goin to BYU Hawaii, but more on that later! haha
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> 4.) Elder Hofstrand and Brunson, keep workin it out there man, im proud of you guys and i have somthing i want to share it has just been my thoughts lately....
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> Lately ive been thinking about the missionary ive always pictured me being before my mission. I want you to think about that really seriously about who you are now, and if you have become what you wanted to be. If you havent figure out why you havent yet, think about it, pray about it....AND FIX IT! thats what i gotta do ill write more on it later but i gotta go now so I love you and seriously think about this!
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> Love,
> Elder Brunson

ALSO A LETTER TO FAMILY~

thanks so much for the email. Ya thats funny you wrote about St. Patricks Day, cuz to be honest i wrote Grandpa's Birthday in my daily planner, but i Totally forgot about St. Patricks Day! haha Oh well. Yesterday we had dinner at the Bishops House in the English Ward. We also had an investigator come with us. The investigators name is Kei (pronounced Kay) he is 20 yrs old and he is the one moving to Davis on the 23rd! So i told him You (sorry) would have him over for dinner. So maybe if you can some time toward the end of March set a sure time to have him, Austin and maybe the Davis Missionaries over all for a dinner at the house in Winters i think it would be really good. I told him he would eat with my family and that i would email you about it, he said it sounds fun and i also told him Austin would take him to Church. He said he wants to go but hes not sure if his HOUSE FAMILY will be cool with it yet so he said he cant FOR SURE. but it should be really good i gave him Austins information, and i got his new adress and phone number (home phone) in Davis. BUT i forgot to bring it with me to Email (whoops) so il have to email it to u next week, so im not sure when is good for him but just have it in the Back of you mind and i will give you the info and Austin can call him. He will be waiting for a phone call. And also it might be good if Austin got to know him a lil before that dinner, and so one really good thing is maybe Austin can take him to eat at In-n-Out. Kei wont have any friends when he first gets there so Austin would help soo much, hes taking his Japanese Book of Mormon. But ya more on that later when i give you the info, sorry. Ya but that would be wayyy cool huh!
Soooo about Transfers....
Yepp i did transfer. I was really sad to leave Shibuya, it was sucha fun place to work, the heart of tokyo....im kind of sad. BUT when i just got to my new area i felt the spirit sooo strong as i rode down the street! This is my new HOME! I feel really strong that we will see many miracles here. I have been praying for it for 4 days since i got phone calls, and as soon as i got here i really feel like I am suppose to be here for a darn good reason. I have been praying and thinking alot and i feel pretty strongly that i am suppose to find a specific family and bring them unto the gospel of Jesus Christ. I dont know who they or where they live but i feel it! I am SOOOOOO excited for this new transfer to be honest i was soo sad to go, but the spirit is strong here, the investigators are low and i know the Lord needs my help here. So my new Area is called "Adachi". i hear thw ward is WAY good, so thats always good news. Its location is still in Tokyo. I didnt move too far. My last area was next door on the left to the Mission Homes area. My new area is next door on the right of the Mission Home. So its only 2 areas over from my old. But it is not as city as my last area. My new area has alot of freeways haha. And i did get a new companion too. His name is Elder Cheff. He seems like a good missionary, his trainer wasnt a good example so he has a few places to improve on (small movie posters) (btw is there a new tranformers coming out?) haha but he really likes movies. But its a two man apartment so that will help us focus better and ill make sure he gets rid of ALL distractions. He came to Japan 3 months ago, so yepp President Hill saw it fit to call me as a Senior
Companion. Im kind of nervous cuz that means its me to rely on not just japanese but what to do in all situations. But i want to make sure we are working real hard and being obedient, but also having fun. So yep those are the Transfers im still in the same Zone, in a different District, with a way good District Leader and his new companion is one of the guys in my room in the MTC! Elder Dukes! im sooo excited. So this tranfer really seems like its only gonna keep getting better, as far as miracles!

Sorry this is really long. Thats about all the news i have from me and Mom i just wanted to say to you, how proud and excited i am for you wih your new callin. I was hoping you were called as ward missionaries haha but the temple has really become something close to you and i am very happy for you. Going to the temple not only strengthens you, but it also strengthens our families, the church, and relationships! what a blessing! And now to have a calling such as that i cant imagine the blessings you and our family wil recieve because of your service. I guess when i come home i can be the Ward Missionary! im sooo excited for that, but i dont want to talk about coming home. Cuz if it were my choice i wouldnt come home! haha but i want you to know that i not only support you 100%!!! but i am sooooo grateful to have a mother with such a rock solid testimony. You will continue to bless our family with your testimony and you will bless my brothers as you have allowed me to gain a testimony through yours. Thank you i realy am Eternally Grateful for that! And now being set apart and called by the Temple Presidency...WOW! haha that is sooooo cool! Im sad i cant be there that nust be an intense setting apart! ha Your soo lucky, no, your not. You are blessed becasue you followed the Spririt and its promptings. Thank you for your faith in acting.
Paul also thank you for the email and also about this calling, ya maybe we dont know eachother that well but because of your "good fruits" i know that planted within you deeply rooted is a "good seed" (Alma 32). Ive told you too many times how thankful i am for what you do not just for my family (brothers) but how you have helped my mom. You have supported her allowing her to be able to accomplish the righteous goals and hopes she has and that makes her happy therefore she doenst get mad at me anymore and therefore making me happy! haha but seriously thanks!
Well i would love to play Guestures again with everyone but as you know im busy, and this has been the biggest blessing in my life so far...well maybe after Mom. seriously. but i love this work and i still have time to do alot but it goes by SOOOOOOOOO FASSSSSTTTT!!!! so as Elder Randy Brunson once told me
"Dont Count the Time, Make the Time Count"

Love,
Elder Brunson

Konnichiwa!

Well everyone i hope you are all doin good! My comp and i are still seeing miracles, but t be honest were pretty　lucky, lately my comp and i havent been gettin along too well. He keeps getting mad at people on the street and even yells at some and it really drives away the spirit. And when hes not yellin at people hes negative most of the time, so i have really been trying to keep our companionship from not exploding. You guys would all be proud of how patient i am becoming with people! haha remember how bad i use to be, im still not perfect but i have definately improved. But its cool even when the spirit isnt too strong between us i try to keep it strong with me. Because the spririt is the most important thing in missionary work, and we have been seeing so many miracles! Heres one: We woke up and it is Valentines Day, its been cold alll winter but today it was sooooo warm! We didnt need coats we even wore short sleeves! it was amazing. So that got us on a good note. We just finished a pretty well taught lesson and things are goin smoothly, we start to ride our bikes to go talk to people outside. Well we were heading to our Ward Mission Leaders House and we passed by this grassy hill in the middle of the city, and let me remind you its Valentines Day. So there are couples all over the city! I dont like proselyting to couples cuz one it awkward cutting into their date and 2 sometimes the girl will start flirting and then the dude doesnt like it, and lastly if one doesnt have interes they drag the other away. So anyway i see these people walking to this Hill and after passing it i felt that i need to go there and see whats going on! So my comp is in front of me i just flip a 180 and i followed the prompting so quick that i didnt even tell him he soon realized i wasnt following him and he followed me. I walked up to the Hill left my bike just chillin at the bottom didnt even bother to lock it. My companion all confused is trying to catch up. I then stand next to this guy who was there by himself. There from this hill was a beautiful view of the Japan Sunset lowering behind the Towers of Tokyo it was a beautiful view, there were many couples there. But i talked to this man who was alone. To keep this story short, i ended up teaching him all about the Plan of Salvation and sharing Alma 32:21 with him and i shared my hope about heaven. The thing is i started this conversation by myself and finished, my companion was talking to other people. But it was a miracle to not only be prompted to come to this park to talk to this man, but i was able to teach him for 1 hour on that hill in japanese. I was thankful for my language ability because my companion was not there and i was able to answer all questions and teach everything i wated to say! it was a miracle. After the lesson i set up a return appointment and there on that hill i prayed with him. This was not part of our plan for the day but i was able to be guided by the spirit to find those who are searching. The man became a new investigator that night. It truly was a miracle!This is why the spirit is the most thing to this work, you can be the most talented missionary and find people, but if you have maybe only a few talents but have the spirit you can find just as many, and probably even more. I testify that the Lord truly is guiding this work by the Spirit and allowing us to become instruments in his hands. I say all this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hey Elder Randy Brunson - i sent you letter and gift the other day so be lookin for it! Love you bro.

The Spirit Guides

Ya those pics are for you but if you could keep them able to see when i get back that would be cool, im sure you will unless logans gets at them haha. Im glad everyone liked their gifts i thought they were pretty good and i got them all for GOOD price! haha ya well this sunday we should have atleast 4 investigators if not 5 at church on SUNDAY!!! im excited weve really been workin hard and finally it seems that we are seeing the fruits of our labors! NExt will be baptisms and then real converts. YA we just finished a lesson with an investigator and he seems he is on the way towards baptism pretty quickly so we are excited and the best part is we still are going to be meeting 2 or 3 other people this week who i believe may start investigating the church! i really dont want to transfer from this area! Ohhhh man today!! i almost killed a lady not really but i was riding my bike and and i was carrying a pump in hand and so i could brake my front brakes but im comin down a small hill and this lady pops out of the corner with her kid in the back and i T-Bone her and she fell over, its funny now cuz no one got hurt but i tried slamming my brakes but i could only use 1 brake so i couldnt stop fast enough. Ya so that was intense her and her kid went toppling over they didnt fall hard but slowly fell over cuz they lost balance. Haha. but i made the lil kid cry, i felt like such a jerk! haha but ya today was P-Day but im really tired i worked on Bikes for 2 hours and then had a lesson and finally now i can email. Ya im still fixin bikes and i didnt even get time to fix my own there are 2 sisters in our area and their bikes havent been tuned their whole mission yet so at first they asked if i could fix thier brakes but then i figured i would just do it all today for them, they needed it badly. But thats what i get for learnin how to fix bikes, i actaully remmeber alot still so its a miracle! So now im actually really tired now and sorry but i wanna go back to the apartment and rest a little but i dont think well have time we still have to go shopping. But i want you all to know that i love you! Oh i have a quick spiritual moment! I was doing a church tour and introduced the Book of Mormon and the man asked me from this book if i had to explain to someone what a Christian is where is there a part where i could do that? I was like ahhh crap im the worst at memorizing parts from the scriptures but my companion was busy making a reading list and so i was on the spot and intantly the spirit taught me what to say. It was not my thought and i knew it but the Sacrament Prayer intsantly came to my thoughts and i opened up to Moroni and shared the sacrament prayer and explained to him the promis and covenant we make and i told him these 3 things 1.) Take his name 2.) Always remember him 3) and follow his commandments and i said that is what defines a christian and he was impressed and so was i i had never thaught about that in my LIFE! but i learned as he learned and it was all through The Spirit!!! I know this Gospel is true and i know i am working side by side with the Lord and he will tell me what to say in the exact time i need it by the Holy Ghost! I love you all and i know God loves you all to, i love teaching about our Heavenly Father thats my favorite thing to teach, i always emphasize on how much he loves us! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hello Everyone (January 8, 2009)

Sorry its been a while, since its been the Holiday seasons i 1 havent had time to email and 2 email places were closed so we instead went to different things on P-Day, especially on New Years we went to a Shrine (all Japanese people do t on New Years Day) and we went to probably if not the most but one of the most famous shrines in Japan! it was a fun experience there were soooo many people there. I love my area right now its so much fun and not only is it fun in that sense but we have been seeing MIRACLES!
> I was riding the train and i talked to a man and he was Chinese and we got off at the same stop, and i invited him to do a tour of our church, and he wanted to do it the next day! So we did it with him and we talked about God as we showed him the Primary room and we asked him if he believed in God and he said no i have never had an experience with God before and so i testified of my experience and he asked after how do i get an experience to know if God is truly living, so we answered him and finished off the tour. Then we met to teach him more about the Book of Mormon (this is after he came to church this week) but we talked to him aboutprophets and he asked, Well how do i know if these prophets teachings are true? and of course we taught about prayer, He is coming to church again this sunday and we will see him again but this all happened 7 days ago, and it all started by asking him how many minutes to the next stop on the train!!! This is miracle, he is truly pepared and seeking the Lord! And i am so blessed to have been guided to find this man. This is my favorite part about missionary work!!! It just gets me pumped up to see more miracles, i dont care on the amount of them that get baptized it would be nice if they all did but because they have their agency sometimes they choose not to, but just being able to see the hand of the Lord in this Work and also to be an intrument in his hands is truly my Joy! Its more fun that Halo 1, Rockets, Capture the Flag, on Hangem` High! haha thats use to be sooo fun but missionary work is truly better, cuz its not just a game, its REAL!
> So yes the Holidays were fun! and thanks to all those i got to either talk to on the phone, or that sent me a card, i appreciatted it! My Holiday was a blast as well, not many times in your life you get to spend Christmas in the Heart of Tokyo! I hope everyone had 1/2 as fun as i did, i dont want my mission to END. NOOOO!!!! i know i still have lss than 1 yr and 1/2 but still it goes by sooo quick! Almost 1 yr ago now (on Jan. 21 or so 27th?) i dunno but i got my Call in the mail around then. Oh man it flies by! But its all good im makin the best i can out of it!
> Elder Randy Brunson - HOW are you man??? i havent heard from you lately, are you still alive? And are you sick of Christmas yet? haha Hey i got an English nametag made so now we have the Same Name tag! haha cool huh, well actually its just a little different but thats okay. Well let me know whats up!
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> Elder Hofstrand - Dude i know you are NOT alive! ha i bet you got Frostbite already, haha that would suck! I havent heard from you either, i hope youre doin good, let me know whats been happenin, like miracles and stuff!
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> Okay everyone the Holidays are over so Get Back to Work!
> Love Ya,
> Elder Brunson
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Merry Christmas from Japan (12/23/08)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!I hope the season is bright this year and the spirits are high! Well i gott=a go but i just wanted to let everyone know that there are miracles going=on here in Shibuya. Really, the past few days have really been effective=in working i has to be the Christmas Spirt! Oh i love this time of year =even if i am working! I dont have time to write about the miracles but i =promise i will some other time because im pretty sure this story will con=tinue! OHHH man i love being a missionary sometimes the work is really ha=rd and its raining and you want to be at home next to a warm fire with yo=ur family...BUT when you really see a true miracle when youre led by the =spirit in your heart there is sooo much more warmth than that fire at hom=e. And this is my favorite thing about Missionary WORK! I love you all an=d have alot of fun this Chirstmas and dont forget the true meaning of thi=s special holiday!Love You All,-Elder Brunson

Hello Everyone (December 10, 2008)

Well i dont have time so im just gonna write a few things... First off I GOT TO FREELINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was at a really famous park called Yoyogi and i heard the sound of dropping freelines and i got sooo excited i didnt have much time to try them out cuz i only had 10 minutes. But it has been almost 8 months!!! i was sooo bad! i could ride well (sort of) but i couldnt do anymore tricks just the normal flip, but it was soooo goood to ride again...ahhhhh i missed frellining so much but it was fun and a good oppurtunity to talk to the kid who had them, he wasnt good he had just bought them on the internet, but ya that was almost a week ago but it was nice to ride again i was so excited and i had poeple watchin me again, it was fun. But ya its definately not as fun as seeing miracles as a missionary. With all honesty when you are a misionary and you see a miracle through your hard work but also the help of the Lord, its is the best feeling in the World!!! the spririt is so strong during those times. But ya i dont have much to say other than its Christmas time and all of the Americans are feesing us like crazy here! its soo nice but im gonna get sooo fat! hahaWell i love you all and i hope your Christmas time is MERRY! Love Elder Brunson Elder Randy Brunson - Im jealous i want to talk in Japanese in my dreams but i havent yet. Do you SYL alot? but ya my langauge is doin alright, Japanese is still tough but for where im at in the mission supossably its good, some misionaries go 2 yrs in Japn and dont come out fluent but their usually pretty bad, haha, well i hope you like the story above sorry to rub it in!! haha but ill send you pics. keep workin hard. ya tracting is my least favorite Elder Hofstrand - I sent pics in that letter you should get it soon, keep workin hard to and see some miracles they are out there!

Merry December (12/3/08)

Its goin good out here in Tokyo. Its so nice being in the city for the Christmas Season i get to see christmas lights and christmas trees and sometimes music. They dont celebrate Christmas here in Japan, most of the members do but its not a big holiday in Japan, so pretty much just my area has Christmas stuff everywhere. In my area its is shopping central, just store after store, its pretty fun, you get to see some really strange fashion styles people actually wear. Well the work is doin good out here, were workin hard everyday. I got sick and took a 2 hr nap and im still a lil sick but still workin hard. Our District is really trying thier hardest its great. Everyones pumped up to work and see miracles. My companion isnt really though, its getting hard for me right now, cuz im still the Junior Companion but when i take step up and work as the Senior (which happens alot) i think he gets offended. So it sucks cuz you and your comps are never the same it seems, but the best part is you laern alot from them and about yourself. SO its goin great out here.The Americans in the foreigner ward are feeding us like crazy out here! next week we have 4 Dinners with a family in a row. Never has this happened to me yet. In other areas your lucky to get 1 a week, in my first area i got only 2 Dinners for the WHole Transfer! SO its exciting and i feel like the missionaries that use to come over to our house to eat and its always a great feeling to remember that youre a missionary and its only for 2 years. YA well today after shopping for food, were gonna got check out the Emperial Palace and a science museum (it sucks you cant enter the palace walls but you get to see it from the outside) so it should be way fun. Im having a blast in my new area. Though at times i really get sad, im in the middle of Babylon and to see so much sin around me and to know that they too have a heavenly father but they just dont know him. But the most sad part is Sooo many people reject the thought of not only God but particularly thier Savior Jesus Christ. And thats why our District is trying so hard and we truly are seeing miracles these past 3 weeks, but for some reason i feel like these last 3 weeks in this transfer will be very significant! Im excited!Well sorry to take up alot of time i hope everyone is doing well and please remember the true meaning of Christmas this Year, and think and pray to find someone to share the meaning of Christmas to. I know we will be doing that here in Japan. What a wonderful time of the year! My Favorite!- Elder Brunson Elder Hofstrand - Hey man havent heard from you in a while, hows Canada doing? Is it cold yet? haha I hope you got my letter a lil while ago. Elder Brunson - I havent heard from you in a while either, hows the work? Hey and what is tracting (sorry i forgot all the English missionary terms) i wasnt sure if it was housing or streeting or both and what did you use to do for finding before tracting? And how are you? Did you go AP yet?