WOW ..Week 15! & Merry Christmas!

This week was faster than the last! 

How’s everybody doing? I’m doing amazing. I learn something new every single day, and it’s amazing! I LOVE it!

This week was cold and fun i think! 

Monday was more of a relaxed day, we watched the first presidency Christmas Devotional which was awesome of course! after that we returned to our apartment When Pday was over.

Tuesday we had our weekly visit with our buddy Panchhi! Pray for him he’s progressing but very slowlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. We passed out A LOT of Flyers that day for our Christmas party and English class. Good COLD day :)

Wednesday went and visited a less active member and was fed a ton! (Members love to watch me eat because they’ve never seen nor knew anyone could eat a lot as much as i do I guess haha!) After that we went to Ping Pong Night! We hold it every Wednesday at the Church :) Super fun to wreck everyone that plays me! (JK HA)

Thursday was a special day, we went to an old folks home and sang for them all Christmas hymns. I’m no singer, but I’d sing again for them any day. Seeing their faces and how happy they were to see us made me cry so hard!! I love them! It was a great experience. 

Friday was an awesome Zone training meeting! I got to meet a lot of new missionaries and learn new things from the Zone Leaders. After i left on a companion exchange with Elder Maeno a Japanese missionary. SO HARD. I had to ONLY speak Japanese and it was very difficult yet a good learning experience. Our next transfer day falls on my birthday so we'll see how that goes! I don't want to go cause I LOVE it here!

Saturday we ended the exchange, tried to meet a few people but they weren't home. So we went to the ward Christmas Party! That was pretty fun and we actually had more nonmembers than members there. GREAT missionary opportunity. The members here are awesome! They literally fear NOTHING when it comes to sharing the gospel.

Which brings me to my next point! This morning I prayed earnestly on what i can share with you today. As I began my study i was studying 2 Nephi 7-8. Lots of good stuff. But the main thing i pulled from that was fearing god more than fearing man. Verse 6 says: I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. i hid not my face from shame and spitting.

These are the words of Isaiah being quoted by the prophet Jacob. He took the reviling and still followed god! Chapter 8, verse 7-8. Go and look that one up! Basically, to mainly those of you at school still and those with your friends, do not be afraid to share the gospel, stand firm in what you believe (2 Nephi 8:1) and all glory to the God on high! Those who revile against you are there to try and take you down, OR they are waiting to hear your words and testimony of the Gospel! Just remember to follow the Spirit and teach from the heart when the opportunity arises. There’s is nothing more important to a missionary than the members he or she works with. Or to those who are not of this faith, I advise to listen in on to our message :) we can only invite you; we aren’t here to make you attend!

I love you all so very much. Please enjoy and remember the reason for the Season :) 

PS Write me more often people!!!  I’d LOVE to hear from you all! :)

Elder Preciado 

プレシア度長老

 This lady is in love with me so much she cut her hair just like mine.

 and... I made this delicious squid!

Here are little girls at the Christmas party who were attached to me! Love you all :)

Greetings from 日本 Week 14

Hello folks, 

This week was by far one of the best weeks of my entire mission. So many good things happened and has been felt and guided by the spirit. Wow what a week!

This week, I’ve been beginning to realize the blessings and importance of prayer.

Monday was a dandy ole Preparation Day. I decided to begin that day with a special prayer and favor from our Father in Heaven. I said, Heavenly Father, let’s have a good day today and i want something great to happen! My companion and I began our normal preparation day, did what we needed to do. We were out proselyting by 6 PM as usual. We headed over to the next Eki (Train Station) to hand out our English class flyers to people. Keeping what I asked Heavenly Father for in mind, i was determined to find and work hard! Time rolled on, and nothing was happening. Right before we left, we saw this high school kid whom we met a few weeks earlier, We stopped him and started up a good convo! He LOVES American History, with that being said, we bore witness and testimony of the Book of Mormon and gave him one, since you know, its American history ;) I knew heavenly father saw my faith and we were able to meet that kid again. We plan on seeing him again and discussing it! When we have righteous desires, the lord will grant them as long as we show faith and do our part.

Tuesday was good, hit up our friend Panchhi and taught him a good lesson; we are slowly progressing more and more with him. We must be patient! After we stayed and ate at his Indian restaurant and he challenged me to beat his na`an record again. If i did I said he had to put a picture of us missionaries on his wall in the restaurant for holding the record! So I did! I beat it again and now will be seeing a beautiful missionary man on his wall very soon ;) hahaha jk

Wednesday we didn’t really know what to do, we got mixed up on one of our appointment times and it fell through. So as we were wondering what to do, I decided to offer up a prayer considering that the Lord provided for us before, why not try again! We had a sudden prompting to fly on over to Suda Eki (which is pretty far) we weren’t` sure but we went with it. We showed up, and nothing/no one was there, we were pretty upset, we looked around there, tried contacting houses, nothing, We came back and found a small little whole in the wall Udon shop. Tried it out and it was pretty good! The shop owner was very friendly and we talked for about an hour or so? Maybe more. We talked about the gospel with him and about his family and asked if we could visit him sometime, He says aww, man no you would never find my house, we asked where it was, and he said right next to Suda Eki! We told him we were JUST there and knew EXACTLY where it was. We were pretty stoked!

Sometimes when we pray, and follow certain feelings, you may not realize the purpose, or reason at first, but this experience comforted us, may not seem like a huge thing, but it doesn’t need to be, I knew the Lord was guiding us that day because of our faith in him and in prayer.

Thursday had our best lesson with our Nigerian friend. We met him at the Eki and taught him all of lesson 1. I knew he felt it! I gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon with my testimony in it. After the lesson he said, Can I like go to church sometime? This sounds amazing. We looked at each other and went, uhhh yeah bro! You can go whenever! So hopefully he went yesterday in Osaka which is where he lives! It was also special because i finished the Book of Mormon for the second time :)

Friday was on a comp. exchange w/ Elder Brown. Best comp. exchange yet. talked all about football! Man I miss those days of playing. SHOUT OUT TO MY HUSKIES AT CENTENNIAL FOR GOING TO STATE, GRIND ON!!!

Nothing else too special went on the rest of the week. Just been working hard and having an amazing time here in Japan.

In regards to my experiences and the things I learned this week, I have some things to share with you concerning prayer.

Prayer is a VERY special thing! It’s a way we can communicate with our Father in Heaven, our Master, and our Creator of the Universe. With that being said, prayer is more than just blessing the food at dinner, its more than saying the same things every time, it’s more than just throwing it up to the heavens and expecting a miracle to happen. You are LITERALLY talking to God personally. A very important part of prayer is listening too. If we ask God for help or an answer, and we don’t listen closely through the spirit, then we can expect NOT to get anything in return! When we pray we should pray strongly and openly, giving the desires of our hearts, AND having the faith KNOWING that you WILL receive an answer. Having the faith in knowing is one of the most important parts. Then it’s up to US to be patient and ready to receive what the Lord is trying to tell us. 

Sometimes we may not understand the things we receive. We may think, what? huh? what does this mean? why this? why that? Many instances have occurred for me here in the mission field. But it’s always important to constantly inquire of the Lord when such things occur. Alma 34: 17-27 (Please Read!) Talks about always praying unto the Lord! Lets take a look at Nephi. When he made it through the wilderness and made it to the sea, He went and asked God what to do. The Lord commanded him to build a ship! So Nephi being the beast he is, having the” I will go and do” Attitude, went and built the ship. Nephi had NO clue how to build a boat. But he knew it’s what he had to do so he was gonna do it no matter what. It says Nephi went back and forth; up and down the mountain constantly inquiring of the Lord what he should do next. Eventually because he showed his faith, his diligence, and listened to the spirit, he was guided correctly and was able to construct the ship needed to sail to the Americas. 

Remember these things the next time you pray, remember that EVERY prayer is a conversation to our heavenly father. Remember the importance of it and pray always! I KNOW and testify that it will bless you and you will see the Lords hand helping you in your own lives.

I love you all very much and hope you all have a good holiday season. Remember HE is the GIFT!!


プレシア度長老

Elder Preciado

a funny bike we saw

our Christmas Tree!

and dinner at a Sukiyas restaraunt. big bowl of gyudon! YUM!

Hellooo! Week 13

What is up my fellow friends and family!?

This week was one of the fastest, coldest, longest (yes i know i just said it was fast and long!) of my mission so far. Not to mention one of the most spiritual! I am glad to hear things are going well at home and I’m so pumped too that my knee is doing good!

Let me start off by saying it was snowing!! That`ll give ya a glimpse of how cold it is. The humidity is what makes it A BAJILLION times colder than it actually is. But that ain'

t gonna stop this missionary from doing what he’s called to do.

Monday was a normal preparation day for me., nothing new.

Tuesday was a crazy, but special day. We went and home taught an older couple in the ward with the branch missionary. Things with them are great and hope they will serve a mission together! Afterward while heading over near the Eki (train station) My front tire randomly popped and i almost flew over the handle bars into the middle of the road. After that crazy madness we walked over to the nearest bike shop to get it fixed but the guy was about to close up shop and he would let us leave my bike there to get it fixed the next day. So we had to walk the rest of the way and we missed our train. I was upset because we missed an opportunity to meet an awesome potential investigator. It was late, but we decided to still go over to the area where we planned to head to. We felt like we should but the guy wasn't gonna be there. we followed through anyway. While waiting, we met a young kid there, who really wants to learn more about the church! I knew why my tire popped, but heavenly father could’ve changed things in a bit safer way ya think haha? I'm safe though don’t ya’ll worry.

Wednesday was great. I had some pants that needed to be fixed so i took them in a while back and finally went to go pick them up really quick. After we were wondering what to do, we had tons of time. We prayed about it because we needed some help. After what happened the day before, i had faith knowing that God would guide us, after we ended praying, we both said, Lets go to the EKI!! (again don’t know why but we did, we had a weird feeling about it! but again, followed through). When we arrived we looked amongst the crowd of people and BOOM a huge African American man standing among them. We looked at each other and knew exactly why we needed to be there..for him! We went and talked to him for probably the next hour or so about him and his life, his beliefs, and how we could help him. (Thank the lord he spoke English, obviously!) He wants to meet with us now so we found a new investigator! 

From these experiences it has helped me realize that this is the LORDS work. I always have running in my head, JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL! TAKE IT FROM MY HANDS! Hahaha you may be laughing but its true, I’m letting him take my wheel that way I can magnify my calling to serve as best I can.

The rest of the week was nothing too special other than we headed to a less active members house to make mochi last Saturday! He invited the ward so there was a good amount of people there. Mochi is delicious its basically rice smashed into a big huge ball, looks like dough and is veryyy squishy. You take a huge wooden hammer and smash it it all into a bowl! (Ill show a picture.) That event was fun ,Loved it!

This week I received a lot of emails from fellow friends and family telling me how great I am and what not because I helped our needy friend out. I’m nothing special people! Out here on the mission, and like I've stated before, I've come to know Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father very well. I've also gained a lot of revelation through my daily prayer and scripture study. Doing what I did wasn't for the reason of being praised or thought highly of, it was simply because I’m doing what I’m called to do as a missionary. I’ve been called to serve by a living prophet, to serve the people of Japan! Luckily, I found an opportunity to help our friend out and I took it!  Jesus Christ spent his entire life serving others; he is the symbol of Charity. He did everything merely because he loved others. Being here in Japan has been amazing! I've grown to love these people so very much. I will always love them by serving them. I've never developed such a strong testimony as I have now. I’ve never had the desire to follow and become like our savior Jesus Christ, as I have now. I desire to one day be like him, and it all starts with our desires and our acts. THAT’S why i did what i did.  I do appreciate the kind words from every one, I really do! But I want you to know that all glory goes to the throne above. 

I can’t even tell you how much fun I’m having and how much of a blessing experience this is. There’s no greater satisfaction than finding and learning the things my heavenly father wants me to have, and then sharing that with others. The cool thing is, people here don’t have a Christian background. You might be thinking That’s rough!! But to me, it’s a blessing and a privilege. I get to introduce to these people for the first time, who their lord and savior, Jesus Christ is. A lot of people don’t believe it, and the works hard. They always say for every door you knock in Japan someone in Africa gets baptized hahaha. That’s okay! It’s not about the numbers, its about the peoples eternal salvation. I can’t wait for you and momma to experience the joy of being called to serve.

Please pray for me and my investigators. We've been working hard and got 13 now! Some so stiff, so pray their hearts are softened. I want all to know whom are reading this, that i love you all very much! I miss you all very much but that’s okay. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing!  Remember to always Read and pray daily.

Scripture of the week, Moroni 7:33-48, regards charity

The Lord and I love you :)

プレシア度長老

Elder Preciado

BUSIEST WEEK OF THE MISSION SO FAR. Week 12!

Hello all!

Monday, was Preparation day obviously but we had to travel to Semboku, which is an hour away for a baptismal interview. Because it was so far we had to stay the night over there in the area with the Semboku Elders. The guy passed his Interview so that’s all that matters right?! 

The next day, my companion had to travel to Kobe for District Leader Training which left me on a companionship exchange with Elder Barton over in Sakai. Elder Barton is a BRAND NEW MISSIONARY. We both don’t have the greatest language abilities yet, especially him ha he just got here. And so basically we went forth with faith talking to everyone we could. We did have an appointment with a REALLY old man that the Sakai Elders are teaching. A man who LOVES music, literally any form of music. ANYTHING. even the ticking of a clock. Crazy but the man is awesome. He’s a little crazy! but a ball of fun! He had me right my full name down on a paper in English and Japanese so I wrote, Jacob Matthew Preciado, and then ヤコブマタイプレシア度長老. He has to read with his glasses and a magnifying glass haha, so he read my name and his eyes get HUGE. He says, Your name is JACOB, Jacob MATTHEW. YOU’RE A PROPHET. And so the rest of the visit he kept treating me like he was with Jesus the entire time, giving me food and popsicles and all sorts of stuff. It was weird and uncomfortable, but I love that guy and bless him and his soul!

Wednesday I came back, but then went on ANOTHER companion exchange with my good ole buddy Elder Steers :) Love that guy so much! and it was good to work with him again. That whole day takes us to Thursday. This time I had to travel to Kobe for TTT Meeting, or Trainer Trainee Training Meeting. (That’s a mouthful) That was a solid day. I headed there and got to see all my old buddies from the MTC!! Got to see my bro Elder Eccles. Shout out to him! Love that guy. That was also thanksgiving. They fed us a thanksgiving meal as best they could at that meeting. Wasn't quite like home, but I still enjoyed it. I appreciated them for trying their best! It was great! After the meeting ended, me and my companion hit up Burger King since we both have been craving a burger. That was Deluxe, not to mention expensive! BUT, Well worth it. Twas a good thanksgiving dinner :) 

Friday came back but then went on ANOTHER companion exchange! this time with Elder Urry. Guy is hilarious! super fun to be around and we both jam on the ocarina together. That was awesome. That night we visited our friend Panchhi at his Indian restaurant for dinner that night. We ordered an all you can eat meal where you get unlimited na`an, which is a really good Indian bread tortilla thing. These pieces are big too. Probably about the size of two dinner plates? Panchhi asks me if I eat a lot. and then asked me to beat his Restaurant record for the amount of na`an eaten. Best believe I smashed it. Ate all 9!

Saturday was my first relaxed normal day in the area. Got some stuff done, visited some people, and had a few good lessons. Not to mention I’m back on the bike again! Feels so good to ride and feels good to get skinny again! haha a lot more exercise. Sunday was a good day we had church and then were invited over to a member’s home for dinner. Things have been awesome and I’m loving every second of it all! 

This week, I want you to continue reading the book of Mormon! That way you can get that personal revelation meant for YOU! I’ve already heard some of you are beginning the challenge! That makes me SOO happy!

 頑張って下さい！(Work hard!)

I love you all and hope you have a good week. I know i will!

Elder Preciado

Good Weekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk- desu week 11

こんにちは,

Good week this week. Been working really hard lately and some cool things happened! I had a lot of lessons and cool experiences. Tuesday we met our buddy Panchhi. Same old same old with him. Wednesday, we had a weekly ping pong night and we brought an investigator! Masa さん had a lot of fun and he’s becoming a good friend. Thursday went on a companionship exchange with Elder Wilcox, My zone leader who’s a total beast. So i spent the day in Mikunigaoka on Thursday seeing investigators from that area and such. Friday was an awesome day. We had Zone Conference and talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. Learned some new insights, and some things i can use in my teaching appointments. Half way through we had Lunch, and President Welch whips out MEET THE MORMONS!! We watched that during our Lunchtime and man was that an amazing film. It was awesome to see the perspective of soo many different people all over the world. My favorite was the Navy football coach! the segment made me cry. I miss footballlllllllllll. Oh well haha. Anyways i enjoyed it! 

Saturday, we had a stake music festival! Lots of crazy good music and we brought our friend Masa again! He really had a good time, he LOVES music, all music with a passion. After that we returned to Hashimoto and headed back to the apartment. We decided to head over to our friend whom I scared last week haha. Turns out his electricity is still out and has been homeless basically. He was in his car when we saw him and we talked to him for a bit. He seemed worried and scared but didn’t want to show it. So me and my companion went back after talking to him feeling horrible about this. I grabbed my only jacket, my blankets, some bread and water, and headed back over to him. He was surprised yet so very grateful for helping him out that night.

Sunday was the hardest day of the week, but another experience through the spirit.

I woke up on not much sleep, and so we were getting ready for meetings and I only had time to eat a slice of bread for breakfast. I was hungry! We went to church and everything. Afterward, we had zero time for lunch; we had lessons to go to. So we went and visited the people and didn’t get back till about 7. At this point I’m DYING!! I hadn’t eaten all day haha. We headed to the apartment but decided to check on our friend agaiun on the way. He was still struggling a bit and said there was nothing else we could do; we already helped him he said. After that we left feeling sorry for the guy. We made it back to the apartment and I was so ready to eat! I had some chicken and stuff ready to make a BOMB Chicken sandwich.  I made a really, really good sandwich. As soon as I slapped the bread on top, the spirit overtook me and said, great you made some food! Now go take it to your friend! I was so mad! I wanted that sandwich! I hadn’t eaten all day! But then I remembered the scriptures, of how the lord asks us to love others and take care of the poor and administer to the sick, so I was smited by God and was told again, take him the sandwich. So.... I grabbed my other blanket and the sandwich, and we walked it over to him. I wish you could have seen the eyes on his face when he saw us again there ready to help him out. We left him almost in tears and I could truly feel his love and gratefulness from us. 

That taught me a lot. When we think of others and forget ourselves, we will be blessed. We may have a new friend ready to here the Gospel and even be baptized. It wasn’t so bad either, I thought I was gonna die because my natural man was coming in. But, because I followed the spirit, I was able to help someone, and I’m fine, I’m still alive and well and was able to have some delicious instant ramen! ( wasn’t that good but it’s okay it was soo worth it! :) )

I love that guy so much! I am grateful for the opportunity that the lord has given me to help him out. Remember to follow the spirit, it just may bless you, or in this case, someone else’s life! Remember to have gratitude in your hearts this time of year as we have many things to be thankful for that we sometimes don’t take the time to appreciate!

This week read Jacob Chapter 4 vs. 7 it’s a good one! 

I love you all!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Preciado

プレシア度長老

Where has the time gone! Week 10

So I was chilling here thinking, wait a minute, its November about to be December, which means I’m coming up very, very soon on 6 months of being a missionary which means I’m about a quarter way into my mission which means I’m going to start going crazy because that’s TOO FAST.

Anyways haha, Hello again! Been a FAST, FREEZING week. Its beginning to get very cold here and it isn’t even the worst of it. its just starting! Lots of good things happened this week as opposed to other weeks. Tuesday had a good lesson with my good ole friend Panchhi さん. Afterward we promised we would eat at his restaurant so we had some mighty fine Indian food. Wednesday traveled to Senboku Area which was like an Hour away, to do a baptismal interview for the Elders over there. Afterward we swapped companions and came back to Hashimoto. My new companion for the exchange was Elder Sano! The sickest Japanese Missionary on the planet. He speaks minimal english, so i was forced to speak A LOT of japnese during the exchange. it was Hard but i learned a lot from it. Japanese is slowly getting better. Every Wednesday night we hold a ping pong night at the church, and we try and invite investigators and members to come and play and have fun and what not. This week! Masa さん Came! Some guy we called from the area book and invited him. And surprisingly he actually showed up! Built a good relationship with him and invited him to our free english class we hold every Friday. And he came there too!! We even gave him a Book of Mormon to read and we plan on following up with him later. 

Saturday, had a few good lessons, teaching this young women about how to find happiness in this life. We gave her a book of mormon and she committed to reading it. Yesterday was a good one. After Church, went over to a Lady’s house of whom we’ve been teaching. Last week we gave her a book of mormon and she started reading. She’s in 2 Nephi already! She’s a beast. Hopefully she will see the goodness and light of the gospel and want to get baptized very soon. On our way back from that appointment, we found 3 new people while housing. Talk about awesomeness. 

Saturday had a really cool experience with the spirit. 

We taught an 18 year old kid weeeeekkkkksss ago, and it was an amazing lesson. The kid was crying and everything and really felt the spirit. We agreed to meet the following weekend because he only lives in this apartment on the weekends as he has a job in osaka and commuting is difficult sometimes. For weeks we were trying to visit him but he was never home. What happened? Where did he go? Did he move? Did he lie and try to be nice? What’s going on!  Saturday we were going to visit him one last time. We walk around the corner and look up at his windows and they’re all off, all the lights are out. My companion says, welp he’s not home... and I said hold up man!!! We walked up to the door. And My companion rang the doorbell like 50 times. No answer. So we started heading back down. But I felt the need to begin violently shaking the door handle. So i did! I waited about a min. Then the lock slides open and out comes the kid!! The guy almost pooped his pants he was so scared! Turns out he hasn’t been able to come back to the apartment for a few weeks and so he came back that night and they shut off his electricity. so it was dark. The guy said, `I was sitting on the toilet freezing because the electricity was out and my toilet seat warmer wouldn’t heat up, then I heard a crazy noise so I walked out and then I see this HUGE Foreigner in my doorway! haha 

Basically because of the spirit, we came back in contact. Don’t know what would have happened. Maybe he would’ve missed out on some Awesome eternal salvation! haha When you receive a prompting from the spirit, Do it. It’ll bless you. It’s blessed me in this experience and MANY others in terms of my life actually being saved, helping someone else, and finding a lifelong best friend. I know it will bless you like it has me! 

We recently started a mission challenge of reading the book of Mormon in 4 months. BUT here’s the catch!! We were asked to find All references of Jesus Christ, Attributes or characteristics of the godhead, and highlight when a prophet, angel, god, etc. are speaking. SO I challenge YOU to do the same thing!! Take three different colors and have at it. I’ve begun and holy jamoly is it amazing. It causes me to really, really focus in on every verse to find each thing and its increased my knowledge of the Book of Mormon in just a few short weeks. As I study some more I’ll find some good golden nuggets for ya’ll to read, but for now this is where I want you to start!!

Have a good week i love you all and enjoy your families presence at this time of year :)


プレシア度長老

Elder Preciado

Here's some pictures this week, the elder is Elder Sano, a Japanese

 missionary i was on comp exchanges with..

Week 9 Getting better..

Hey folks,

This week was a better than last week and I hope you enjoyed last weeks letter. 

This will be a little shorter, but i want to share a cool experience I’ve been having this week. Had a companionship exchange which was last friday. We had a lesson with a college student and taught him of the book of mormon! (My FAVORITE) he loved it! I was able to testify to him all my feelings of it and the power it has, and i know he felt it, I gave him an english and japanese copy so that he could practice reading english.  He promised to read at least 5 minutes a night with his busy schedule. We plan on meeting tonight so hopefully it goes well.

That's really the only great thing that happened this week. I was just glad to be over the flu and back out there! My knee is doing a little better. I treated myself to a cane so that i can get around easier! Don’t  laugh or hate i gottta do what i gotta do to teach people. It helps thought so it's getting better which is good!

Hope you are all continuing reading and enjoying life, enjoy the holiday season and do so by sharing the gospel with someone you love! 

I love you all..till next week!

P.s. Sorry my camera is having issues so hope to get it fixed so I can share pics soon!

プレ詩アド長老

Elder Preciado

Rough Week 8!

Well hello again!

Been a really rough week this week as i caught the flu and have been stuck in the apartment. Not much has really happened as you could imagine but from all the studying, might as well enlighten you all rather than bore you!

I've recently restarted reading the Book of Mormon. And ive come to the book of Alma! One of my favorites as it talks about my favorite Book of Mormon prophets and heroes such as Ammon, and Captain Moroni. As I read, I've come to LOVE Alma Chapter 2. It talks a lot about faith. Lately Ive been dealing with a ton of Physical trials and what not, and believe it or not, its been hard! Keeping faith in this kind of stuff is hard. Not being able to go out and proselyte is heart breaking, makes me feel like im wasting time, and that im not successful sometimes. But when i read this Chapter, it picked me right back up.

If you read Chapter 1, it talks about certain events that occur. At the end of it, and at the beginning of chapter 2 It says that the church was very prosperous at this time! As time moved and the more prosperous they became in their industries and what not, some of the nephites began to lust after the vain things of the world wearing all manner of fine clothing and dwelling on gold and silver and precious things. One Nephite in particular, Amlici (hate that guy) began to build up another church and began to draw away the hearts of many people. Army became very strong and he and the Amlicites desired to go to war against Alma and the Nephites. Physically, the Amlicites could probably wreck anyone any day of the week, key thing is, they had no faith! No faith in their Heavenly Father about anything. The Nephites were JACKED on faith, Spiritual giants everywhere! Because of their faith and because of their prayers, God heard them and their prayers and delivered them out. The Amlicites fell before the Nephites and everyone was happy.

BUT, The Amlicites took off and decided to go chill with the Lamanites for a bit, and then come and try again to smite the Nephites off the earth. Sure enough, the Amlicites AND the Lamanites came, Thats two armies people! Two freakin strong armies thirsty for blood of the Nephites. Basically what i imagine is going through the minds of the Nephites is, `Shoot man! its all good though we have GOD on our side, psssh we are good!` So the Nephites begin to pray with everything theyve got and cry and plead unto God to help em out. Because of that and their faith (once again) It is said that the Nephites slew THOUSANDS, and TENS OF THOUSANDS through the power of god within them.

Basically from these two experiences they had, we know that all of us can cry unto our Heavenly Father for help, or guidance or about anything really, and we will receive help ONLY when our faith in him is there, and that our desires are righteous ones. 

BUT WAIT THERES MOREEEE

Chapter 2, Alma goes face to face with the man himself, Amlici, in a sword duel. Alma being a man of god, and having been exercised with much FAITH, he asks god `Hey God, help me out man! Let me win the battle so that I CAN CONTINUE BEING AN INSTRUMENT IN THY HANDS` After, He freakin slays Amlici like a beast. Soon as that Happens everyone freaks out and starts running for it across the river Sidon, The Nephites build a bridge over the river out of the Lamanite and Amlici bodies that they killed (freakin savage man!) and pursued them and continued to slay them so that they wouldn't come back.

Freak man! That's sick! We can liken this story to us. In a very suitable way considering the world we live in. The Amlicites are the Devil and his temptations. May we all build up our faith each day, become spiritual giants so that we don't fall before the adversary. may we have faith like unto Alma, and be able to contend with `The Devil` when he comes our way and be able to Slay him. Now some of us may make mistakes, that.s okay, that's what the atonement is for, we can take what we`ve learned, meaning take the bodies we've slain, build that bridge and continue to slay the Devil so that these kinds of problems don't   ever mess with us anymore and we can say NO, and keep moving forward in faith so that we can achieve Eternal life with our Father in Heaven.

I have really began to strengthen my faith through DAILY prayer and scripture study, really makes a difference and I know it will help you too!

Hope what i have taught you makes sense, and i Hope you continue to work hard at building your faith! I advise you to read this Chapter!!

Love you all and PRAY for me that next week  i'll be better to leave the apartment! Hate being sick!

Love,  Elder Preciado

プレ氏アド長老　

Jacob drew this picture for a Japanese family named Mitsukawa, which means river of light. He drew this picture of a light river leading to the Tree of Life. The scripture is Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men so that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Week 7! I missed week 6...

Hey Everyone.

I want to apologize about last week. I was at the Hospital all day for my knee and had to get it taken care of. Turns out I have a badly strained ligament problem which hasn't really been allowing me to walk very much. This started from football, but has worsened with all the bike riding and walking. I have a knee brace and they gave me medicine BUT I’m stilling doing my best to work hard and continue to hasten the work.

This week was a sloooowwwwww week. Because of the knee injury, couldn't do a WHOLE lot, but did the things best i could. we have a lot of neighbors who are investigators so that’s nice!! I was able to hobble my way over there and teach them. Me and my companion have been really wanting to visit `Talks a lot Lady`(that’s going to be her name, because she talks a lot). She lives somewhat far from us near the Eki (train station) so its been difficult trying to see her. Basically, our last visit with her, we talked in the genkan ( front room, basically the doorstep ) about the Book of Mormon, she is a Buddhist, and so we thought it might be hard, but we did anyways. She did,say OH! this looks cool, im a Buddhist but since you’re giving it to me i GUESS i have to read it. BAM! Finna! (its slang for get a baptism real quick!) if she progresses she will be baptized. We will see how that goes and ill let you know next week! 

We had our Ward Halloween Party on Saturday too. SO FUN! Definitely made up for the week!  my companion and i didn't have costumes at first.  He was previously in the Air Force and had a cool Air Force Jacket that he wore. so he was a pilot! i was just a  missionary when i showed up haha, BUT. a Sister in the ward said, Preciado ちょうろう！！ This is for you!! It was a Super Mario costume. Yes, i was super mario. it was pretty sweet. I even entered the costume contest and won a Medal! hahaha.

Pray i have a better week on behalf of my knee. i was put on the ward prayer list for my knee here. i even got a handmade bracelet from a member that is supposed to contain magic powers that will heal my knee. (Whatever that means) But Whatevs!! it was a gift so ill take whatever helps haha! 

I want you to know that through my experience thus far, I’ve come to know our Heavenly Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ VERY, VERY well. Through my daily prayer and scripture study, I’ve been taught so many things about myself, and the way God deals with men. I invite you all, if you are not already, to start daily studying your scriptures and praying. It’s been the most wonderful experiences and revelation that I’ve received. The more you strengthen your testimony, your beliefs will turn to action and you will be farther on your path to receiving exaltation.

i Know that.

Have a good week, and pray my knee doesn't worsen! I am always praying for you guys. Have a good one, till next week!

プレシア度長老

Elder Preciado

Japan Week 5!

Pretty good, crazy, yet anther fast week. Where is time going!?!

Tuesday was the weirdest day I’d say out of all of them. Started out with our normal study and day prep, and we were going to visit all our neighbors! NONE OF THEM WERE HOME. Lame sauce. So me and my companion journeyed on our bikes to this older less active lady (probably took about 40 minutes to get there) and we then found out she wasn’t feeling good! We offered a blessing but she said no sorry, come another time. So we felt like we rode hecka far for nothing it felt like, but at least good exercise right!. So we headed back home.

Oh on my P-day, me and my companion stopped at a music shop, this old really small music shop. We asked the lady if they had any Ocarinas, a flute style instrument. I really wanted to get one! She said no but they could order them into the shop and showed us this catalog filled with Ocarinas all ranging from 80-120 plus dollars. So i said nope, can’t afford that! Then this other lady from the back comes out. WAIT!! I have one!! She brings out this little Ocarina and says it is really old version but is still a really good one. It was 70 bucks, but she kept apologizing. I’m sorry it’s an old version I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry!  I kept saying it is fine, I’ll keep looking and she still kept saying I’m sorry! I’m sorry! and then ended up giving it to me for 30 bucks. SCORE! I am already learning a couple of songs like “Hie to Kolob” on it. Great Preparation day activity! I love it!

Oh and on our way out i see this turtle crossing the street. I am thinking it was about to die! So i had to save it! Although I didn't know what to do with it because there was no water sources around. So i gave it to these two small elementary kids and said here take this guy and go nuts! Bye! Hopefully that little guy is doing good :) after that we started becoming really successful with the work. Contacting people, finding those we needed to and such. Then ended the day with a zumba class at the church! Solid day! haha!

Got to watch General Conference finally and man was that an amazing experience. you may think its the same, but there’s something about being a missionary and listening to the words of our prophets that made it that much more amazing. I received lots of good guidance and revelation! My favorite talk was by Tad R. Callister. Made me think of you Dad! And all the things you’ve taught me growing up and how you’ve helped shape me into the man and missionary i am now. Talk made me cry for how much appreciation i have for you. Thanks Dad i love you!

We also went on another Companionship exchange with Elder Wilkin from Australia. Got stuff done! It was just a really, really fun and great experience all around. After that I had an Interview with President Welch, and he taught me so much regarding my questions. Doctrinal questions about 1 Nephi 11. I advise you to think about what you felt or learned last week, and reread …truly pondering and thinking about what it is YOU desire to understand. I found out that the way the spirit teaches Nephi, is the way I should be teaching my investigators. Teaching them as far as they can learn, little by little until they’re ready! I’m excited to apply that doctrine!

And to top of the entire week, yesterday was the 祭り！ (Matsuri)… Which is a festival they hold after the yearly harvest. To show gratitude and thanks! Saturday night as they prepped for it, We went to check out what they were doing, and this guy comes up to us and says please join us tomorrow! Represent our district! So the next day he dressed us in a Hapi and put us in the festival! I got to participate in carrying a flippin heavy Danjiri with a ton of small Japanese guys. Tons of flutes and drums playing everywhere! Alot of them were amazed and and they all flipped out! Especially when i said i was 18! Because it was such a success, they invited us to their big meal later that night (which is a very very rare opportunity for not just us but anyone) and got to meet everyone and talk and enjoy food with them. When we had to get up and leave everyone was cheering so loud and just loved us! Such a cool Experience! We noticed that now we have a good image of us elders in the neighborhood, we can easily start teaching these people. Perfect Missionary opportunity!! So pumped! Now my shoulders are jacked up and bruised from the festival but I don’t care cause it was a great experience :)!!

For this week I want you all to think about the words we heard from the prophets this past weekend. Really take into your hearts and heed to their words because they spoke the words of our loving Heavenly Father. Think of ways to apply it to your life! I testify that when you do, the things you may be dealing with will be lightened. I think of one of m favorite scriptures, Isaiah 41:13. “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee’ fear not; I will help thee”. God is there for us and he cares about YOU. Remember to always pray and study the Book of Mormon and your scriptures!

Can’t wait to talk to you and tell you about next week! I had a really good week with many great lessons. Next week will be even better! I love you all! :)

プレ氏アド長老

Elder Preciado

Here's a Picture with all my new buddies from the Festival!

Hahaha having fun! I'm Tarzan!

The cool turtle I found!

My sweet, awesome ocarina! Jordan I know you're jealous!

And one of the Danjiris I carried!

Cool Bamboo forest we found!

The stuff i wore for the matsuri!

Week 4, but who's counting!

Hello!

Week was really, really solid. not to mention FAST too holy crud! time flies when your having fun :) Started off the week with pretty poopy start still. Was sick again and what not but i said FORGET it and just headed out to work with Elder Scowcroft. Gosh we are such beasts. Things got way better after that. Wednesday was able to do some findings and found a few potential investigators. Did some volunteer work at a hospital that day too! Made bracelets for patients, and i guess they LOVE them so I was happy to help in any way :) Not to mention it was Jordan’s Birthday! Did some service for ya! I Love you bro keep making right choices.

Thursday was an even better day, we rode SUPER far on our bikes with the Sisters to a less active women’s house to share a lesson and do yard work. Her husband recently passed away and she can’t keep up her Yard like he could so of course the Choros come! (Elders). Then afterwards we had a lesson with a recent convert, so it was a filled up day. Friday had my first Zone Training Meeting. I felt the spirit so strong and was able to get acquainted with everyone in my zone. It was good! I went on another exchange but this time with the zone leader Elder Davis and we were in Mikunigaoka, which is basically Osaka. Had an awesome time there and was able to teach an australian man named Tony on the street and he said he’d hit up the missionaries back home! ( Seed planted :) ) Also was able to talk to this 26 year old guy at a park. I’ve never felt so much love for a random stranger before. It was clear that he lived a hard life and hasn’t found purpose in it. When we said to call us anytime and we will help you in anything, he gave me the sweetest look on his face that just made me want to cry. I love it so much! 

Saturday came around and first thing we do is hit up 巣白!! (sushi ro) which is the famous sushi on a conveyer belt restaurant. smashed a ton of plates of sushi filled with assortments of squid, octopus, salmon eel, tuna, etc. BOMB to the DOT COM. I attached some pics! Little Obachans were looking in amazement! i wasn’t even full i could have smashed another 20 easily, no joke. J

After that we tried findingbut people nothing was working, so we tried riding around the neighborhood and we found an 18 year old kid in an apartment who is READY. and when i mean ready, hes freakin READY. He was crying just at how friendly we were to him. He works hard to support his mom and sometimes things just get really hard in life like we all experience….but we taught him about god, how he loves us, and knows us. He lost it again in the closing prayer and said we could come back anytime. SOLID MAN! That makes a total of 7 progressing investigators. Its hard work but it’s not mine, it’s the lords. If this work was all up to a bunch of 18 or 19 year old kids, it would have failed a long time ago. That’s just a small testament to how true and amazing this gospel is and what it can do for us and our families. Keep working hard and open up your mouth. Christ is right beside you as you exercise your faith, EVERY soul is worth it. Strive to Develop faith like Nephi if we all had the amount of faith of his and the amount of muscle (or mine ;))jk.., we’d all be unstoppable!

Read in 1 Nephi 11. Ponder about ways you can strive to be closer in faith like unto Nephi. I’m not asking you to be like him and see angels. But trying is better than nothing! That’s all that Heavenly Father wants us to do in anything that we do. Is to TRY. We don’t grow or learn unless we try…. So DO IT! J

I love you all :)

プレ氏アド長老

 Elder Preciado :)

Love serving them..and dad should be proud :)

soo good!

Yep, those were all my plates :)

Its' like a dream...never-ending sushi!