Going into Hibernation

Well. . . With the return of Elder Nick Raia there isn't much to post about these days.

But. . . I'm not going anywhere, neither is this blog.
I guess it'll just be in Hibernation for a while. :)
We do have two more Raia's that will be serving missions in the near future.

This guyFuture Elder Scott Raia

And this guy

Future Elder Nate Raia

When Scott puts in his mission papers (coming up pretty soon) we'll have some guessing as to where he will be sent!

So stay tuned.

Wanna Come To A Party?!

We're all really thrilled to have Nick home, so much that we wanna celebrate! See how happy he is to be home with us all?!

Well if you wanna party, come on over for his welcome home open house
Wed 4/14 6-9 pm at the Raia's home
Price of admission is a 2 liter of Root Beer (Nick really missed root beer!)

We're also really excited for his homecoming talk on Sunday. Can't wait to hear more of his stories and hear him share his testimony in Japanese!

Raia 長老's Homecoming Talk

Time:12:00PM Sunday, April 18th

Location:Green Mountain Building (13206 W. Green Mountain Dr. Lakewood CO, 80228)

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm ready to party!

And The Elder Has Landed!!

Yes people, you heard me. . . Elder Raia has landed!
Home, that is, Elder Rais is home!

We were all SO excited to see him! It was a great reunion!

Lots of hugs!!

We even brought him balloons! What a good family are we?! But we let them get away. So all he really got was to see them at a distance. Its the thought that counts right?

From Japan, to the Mile High City! It is so good to have him home!

He is the same Nick who left here two years ago, but he has changed and grown so much.
We can't wait to hear all his stories and experiences!

Thanks for your service to the Lord these last two years Nick! You are a wonderful example to everyone who knows you!
We love you!

Nine Days!

Yes people. . . You heard me, Nine Days!
Elder Raia comes home in Nine Days!!
We all can't wait to see him!

I'm sure it will be hard to leave all the people he has gotten to know and love. . .

And the country he has been serving in for the last two years.

He will be able to turn in his bike for something with four wheels and a motor.

Can you believe two years have gone by so fast!?!

By the way. . . He sent an e-mail saying he has been pretty sick and spent some time in the hospital. (He didn't give any more details than that *Girrr* ) He is doing better, but he could use our prayers.

See you soon Elder!!

No Fish, No Bombs, No Crawling in the Vents!

Here is the latest from Elder Raia. He sounds great! Doing good and working hard!

This week was pretty good. This has been the first week in a long time that we were able to spend the whole week in our own area! It was really good. We found 2 new people to teach, Kazuya and Jungo. We actually just met with Jungo again this morning. We tried to commit him to baptism but hes pretty strong in his faiths. He belongs to a religion called Mahikari. I'm not sure what it is in English...True Light??? But hes actually studying to be a missionary for Mahikari. but he said that hes willing to consider the truth of our church.

Also this week we had Elder Choi from the quorum of the 70 do a mission tour. It was sooooooooo good! I had really specific worries and questions that I was thinking about before the conference and within 10mins of his talk he answered all of them. It was amazing! I was praying for answers and God answered them so bluntly. Also Hyde Choro and I got to be interviewed by him. He interviewed all the zone leaders together and then 1 Elder and 1 Sister. So we were lucky!What do you think this picture means??? Here we say- No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service! There I guess they say - No Fish, No Bombs, No Crawling in the Vents!

I can't wait to hear all of his stories in a few weeks when he gets home!

Last Transfer

Elder Raia says "I'm doing great. Today is transfer calls and luckily I'm staying in Kamisugi for my last transfer!!! Yea!" He also said that this past week was a week full of miracles, and he has had some really cool experiences. They set three baptism dates and were contacted by another interested investigator they had lost contact with.
He is on the "last leg" of his mission! He gets tired, stressed and worn out like we all do, but what makes him a great missionary is that he does what he needs to to remind himself just how important this work he is doing is! He is still working hard. . .no slacking for him!

See you in six weeks Elder Raia!

PS - Lets hope we all remembered to wish him a Happy Birthday yesterday. . . or this might be his reaction. (Just kidding)

Prayers and Testimonies

Elder Raia's time in Japan is ticking away. . . But he is keeping up the hard work!

"We found some new people to teach, two are a mom and a son. They're really cool and really nice. Thanks for your prayers. I can feel them all the time. This week we read the story of the Tree of Life in the Book of Mormon with our q (investigator). So I read it by myself first and I felt the spirit sooo strongly as I read it. I don't know why it was so different this time but it really strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and in Jesus Christ. Reading about the Love of God (Christ) being available to everyone and reading what He did for us just blew me away.

I'm great! This week was pretty good. We also found a family that said they would listen to the message! We made an appointment but they got busy and forgot, but we're going to see them today. We also found a way cool kid from Hachinohe, one of my previous areas, and hes going to school here in Sendai. He plays drums and stuff and has a lot of interest in the message."

Wow. . . they must have really upgraded from the bikes!

Keep up the praying everyone, he can feel it!! :)

We Love The Old Person Raia!

Elder Raia sounds really happy and excited about the work! He is so funny sometimes!

"Hey Hey Hey! Hows it going? I'm good. This last week was transfer week so a little bit busy but it was still fun. I just want to say something really fast. I saw Leesha's blog thing for me or whatever you want to call it but she wrote "we love elder raia" and then translated into "我々は年上のＲＡＩＡを愛します" which translates really funny! It means "we love the old person raia" hahaha but its all good! (I guess I shouldn't trust English to Japanese translating websites. :) Thanks Elder Raia for the correction. Maybe you can correct them too when you get home. Ha Ha!)

So this last Saturday we had a baptism here in Kamisugi. Kyokani san got baptized and I got to baptize her...4 times. The sister missionaries, when they filled up the font, didn't plug it up all the way so it was waaaaaaaaaay low! But everyone was like just try it and see if it will work and the first 3 times didn't go. we were close but no good. So we had to turn on the water again and members used other faucets and brought buckets of water to fill it up. Then on the 4th time we were OK. It was kinda humorous. Also, in regards to our investigator Miyuki san, she came to church for the first time! Elder Hyde and I actually fasted that she could go and have a spiritual experience and it was one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings Ive ever been to! This girl named Manami gave her homecoming talk and It was sSSSSOOOOO good!!!! I think she really liked church."He is still so cool. . .Nothing could change that!

Good job Elder Raia!! Shun the inappropriate!!!

Another Transfer

Here is the latest from Elder Raia. . .

I'm great! Elder Hyde and I are staying for another transfer. But our zone changed quite a bit.

Pretty much all of our investigators have fallen off the face of the earth except for one. Shes doing good. We're meeting her tonight and I think shes going to come to the baptismal service this Saturday. The sister missionaries investigator is getting baptized and she actually asked me to baptize her so that's really cool! (Sounds like his investigators could use our prayers)

We got a letter from his Mission President that says he is coming home on April 2nd! We cant wait to see him!

When looking through pictures he sent us I noticed a bit of a theme. . .lets see if anyone else notices it.

Ha Ha!! Those are some good pictures!! :)