Elder Travis John Bloomfield in Fukuoka, Japan: 8 June 2014

Hey, hey, heyyy, its me.

But anyways this week was a good time. So we were pretty nervous to teach Irisa san about the Word of Wisdom, since she owns a cafe and all. It turned out to be a way cool miracle. We came to find out she decided to fast on Sunday after we taught her fasting at church, and when she ended her fast at dinner time she saw her cup of coffee and wasn't sure why but felt like she didn't want to drink it. When we taught the Word of Wisdom she told us she already knows this commandment is from God and the blessings she can receive from it, and despite working in her cafe everyday, at church Sunday she told us she hasn't drank any coffee and has been way happy. The rate her faith has grown each week is pretty crazy, she was approached by some anti christian men in Kagoshima but told us the things they said didn't change her faith.

Kameda san was way fun this week. haha I love the family a lot. The kids love us so much and unfortunately it seems I've become known as the fun missionary who will lift you into the air like a rocket every time he visits, because every time I come now the first thing the kids do is come to me with their hands in the air ready to fly. They pray together almost every night. She has a deep trust for us as servants of God, and seems to accept anything we say to her as truth from God and knows she needs to apply it into her life to find that happiness. The only problem to this is that she doesn't always see the need for truly praying to God to have her own answer from prayer, but is making progress in her personal prayers. As we taught what happens after we die this week, Kameda san told us she had two kids that died when they were born but has always felt that they were still helping her and watching out for her, and because of this told us she knew what we were teaching was true. We talked to her this week about her family having this same happiness and she told us she wants her 9 year old daughter (who recently started studying the Book of Mormon and praying by herself. What! she's only 9! Who does that?) to be baptized as well. Kameda san and 3 of the kids were able to come to church Sunday, but have a goal for the entire family, father included, to be at church next Sunday.

At church Sunday I realized Sacrament Meeting with the kids is similar to a basketball game. There are 4 quarters to keeping them quiet.

1st quarter- This would be the Opening Prayer. I brought coloring books and crayons to keep them quiet for this one, and it worked out well. We got through the Opening Prayer with almost no random yells. But they soon lost interest and that's where the second quarter comes in...

2nd quarter - The Sacrament, I realized I will need to bring snacks next week but luckily the Sacrament was able to suffice this week.

3rd quarter - It is a little bit of a long one, the first two talks, usually about 3 bathroom breaks are taken, perhaps too much Gatorade or oranges were eaten during halftime and so they have a hard time staying in the game for too long. Then finally the 4th quarter.

4th quarter - Things are a bit restless, it's the 4th quarter and they are tired, but through a lot of motivation (mints, pictures, Book of Mormon, anything) we are able to ganbaru (hang in there with) and stay quiet till the end.

But yeah, this week was good. We went to Fukuoka on Thursday for MLC (Mission Leader Conference) and were told we need to do a Zone Training meeting tomorrow (Tuesday). so we spent most of our p day today planning for that bad boy. It's always a fun time here. It's way hot everyday, not sure when this rain season is gonna start, we were told it would start like 2 weeks ago but that never happened. Maybe were in a drought too!

Elder Bloomfield