September 4, 2011

Dear Family

First of all Happy Birthday Kiffer! I hope it turns out great for you. It`s great to hear about all the excitement happening at home.

This past week was quite a busy week. Elder Takeda and I did a lot of traveling. So last monday we left on a bus to Kitami which took 5 hours and worked with the missionaries there until tuesday night. Then we left that night to Abashiri which was only an hour by train and we worked with them there for all of wednesday. Then thursday morning we rode a train from Abashiri back to Obihiro and that was a 6 hour train ride. So we got back and then on friday we woke up and left early to Sapporo for a zone leader council meeting and that was a 2 hour train ride there. That same night we rode the train back and then were able to work the rest of Saturday and Sunday in Obihiro.

So it was a pretty crazy week, but was very fun. While I was in Abashiri I had a neat experience. There is a really good family up there that the missionaries have had a hard time contacting. That morning one of the missionaries said "Elder Gandy, I feel like you should go visit this family." So his companion and I prayed about it, because it is a far away place and it`s pretty country. So we prayed and then this companion, Elder Huefner who I went on exchanges with, said he felt like we should visit someone who would be on the way there, but he didn`t have an exact address, so we would have to search a bit. So we went and tried finding this Yamamoto`s house and it took us a while. We kept asking people and after a long time of searching we found his house and were able to have a great conversation with him. Our original plan was to visit this other family first, but we ended up searching for Yamamoto for a long time. So for our last bit of time we went to the Taniguchi family`s house and it so happened that the whole family was there. We found out that the dad just got back and that it was rare for him to be home. So it was a neat miracle that we had come later than planned from finding Yamamoto. If we went to the Taniguchi`s place first, the dad wouldn`t have been home. When we visited and talked we even talked mainly with the father because he wanted to know more. It was a neat experience and I realized that if both companions didn`t follow the impressions of the Spirit we wouldn`t have met with the Taniguchi father and wouldn`t have found Yamamoto`s place. It really is important to follow the promptings of the Spirit and through them we are able to see God`s blessings and miracles.

I love being out here and it truly is amazing being on a mission serving the Lord and seeing how much he has blessed and continues to bless my life. I'm grateful for an amazing family that the Lord continues to bless and protect while I`m out here. I love you all very much.

Love

Elder Daniel Gandy