Prayer

So my trainer, since he has control of the phone, got an e-mail yesterday informing us that on Thursday we will be having Trainers` and Trainees` training.  If there wasn`t enough trains in this e-mail, we will also be taking a train to Nagoya, the center of the mission where the mission home is.  Originally it was going to be just at the end of the transfer and I would be able to meet all of the other people being transferred but since my doki (which means all of the missionaries that came over to the mission the same day as me) is so huge, it will be easier to have the twelve of us and our trainers come sooner rather than with everyone else.  So, early Thursday morning, I will go by the bullet train to Nagoya and be trained and get to see the other five elders from my MTC district!  It is like a reunion!  So it should be fun and we should learn a bunch from President Yamashita as well.

My adventure this week also involved the toilet yet again but instead of pushing buttons, I decided to clean it after my neglect.  While it was worth it, I think I would rather try out all of the buttons.

The highlight of my week was yesterday when we got a call during church from one of our investigators named Bart who is from Poland, is married to a Nihonjin, and speaks English and out of the blue came to the church last week.  He said he was sorry he couldn`t come to church but wanted to meet with us later that day.  So, right after sacrament meeting, we asked an American member to come with us to the lesson at the church at four that day.  So we were all prepared and ready to teach Bart when he showed up.  We taught him about the history of the Book of Mormon and really just did a recap of lesson one since he hadn`t heard it for a couple of months.  It was a really good lesson and the member got involved and I was able to speak a lot because it was in English.  And Bart asked a lot of good questions about prophets and prayer and he actually answered a lot of his own questions.  The best part about it was when we taught him how to pray. We talked about how it was like talking to God and was very personal.  Then we asked him if he would feel comfortable saying the closing prayer.  He said yes and he said the most awesome prayer ever!  It wasn`t like many of the prayers me and other members say that have almost a pattern of things that people say to take up time or just out of habit.  Instead, it was very sincere and personal.  I could really feel the Spirit in the room as he asked God to help him in his life.  It made me realize how much prayer really means to me and how much more it could become if I didn`t see it as a burden to say my prayers before meals or before getting onto my futon at night but instead as an opportunity.  It made me realize that I can learn something from everyone, even an investigator who barely knows anything about the gospel.  Hopefully I can be able to have more sincere prayers and realize always the blessings of the Gospel and God in my life.  

Here is to everyone out there having an awesome week!  Until next time...

Halfway Through Transfers

So if anyone doesn`t know what Globalization is, let me try to explain it to you in this way: a Brazilian and an American knock on a door in Japan and talk to a Peruvian In Spanish for an hour.  Yup, welcome to the 21st century everybody!  And also there is a bunch of Western culture here too.  Japan is now going through the same Frozen craze that has swept the whole North American continent and we hear songs from it in Japanese and English as we are shopping on P-days or biking past shops.  Also, Smith Choro and Martini Choro (the other companionship that happens to live in our apartment) heard of the untimely death of one of the funniest people in Robin Williams from a random person they met while finding people out on the street.  But Western culture is alive and well even a whole ocean away.

Besides listening to my companion speak mangled Spanish (as he only knows a little bit of the language and mostly infuses Portuguese words when speaking in the fourth most talented language) a couple of times this week (during which I got super excited when I heard a word I know like propheta, iglesias, or puedes) I was able to go bowling today with Elder Siedschlag and a less active member who both beat i/us handily by getting a strike the first four times he bowled and got 203 in the end.  I was in third with 109 (as I only got on strike on the very last frame) and Siedschalg got 117 so at least I was close.

My adventurous act for this week was pressing the pink button on the toilet.  I suggest no one of my gender try the same and just stick with the blue-green button.

This week I also had my first District Training Meeting on Friday and I got to leave my area to go to the Fuji area.  I don`t yet have a picture of Fuji-San for everybody but if it would stop being cloudy I could give it to you.  We talked about Paul`s awesome missionary example and then went out and ate at a crepes place which was pretty good.

 Also this week, I had the opportunity to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting, dun, dun, DUN!!!  Last Sunday I was asked to share my testimony for this week but an hour before I found out it was to be at least a five minute talk, if not ten minutes.  So, I busted out a couple of scriptures and tried to get the pronunciation down before I spoke.  It was about five minutes and I talked about how souls are great in the sight of God and that God has commanded us to feed his sheep.  And then I challenged them to pray for missionary opportunities and that if they do they will be able to have them.  At least that is what I thought I said according to the notecard I had my talk written on.  It was really cool to be able to actually talk to everybody and I felt great.  After I talked and sat down on the stand, I had this huge feeling of peace come me.  Yeah I was finished with my talk and relieved but it was a bit different.  It was the feeling that I had gotten many times before at the MTC or even before in firesides or sacrament meeting.  As I looked over the audience of about fifty people I felt like I almost belonged.  It still surprises me that I can cross the Pacific Ocean, walk into a church building where everyone speaks a langauge that I barely know, and still be taught a lesson about Joseph Fielding Smith during Priesthood or that I can go and partake of the Sacrament.  The church building is super small here and the ward is smaller than what I am used to but it has that same sense of belonging that I felt at Rainbow Crest, or at the 129th Ward, or at my Grandma Bevans`s ward in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, over here in Numazu Japan.  I am really grateful that the church is growing and that I can play a small part in it and be able to feel the Spirit and have friends and a support group every I go throughout the world.

Hope everyone has a great week and that the last few weeks of summer will be enjoyed!

Elder Hall

And by the way, thanks everyone for all of the birthday wishes in letters and e-mails.  I really all enjoyed them!  And here are pictures of the ocean and me eating sushi!



 

Happy Birthday to Me!!

I once heard an elder from Japan tell me that there are three types of missionaries in Japan. 

1. The Want-A-Be`s  This cateogry includes those missionaries that have always dreamed of going to Japan.  Most of these missionaries either had a relative, usually a father, serve in Japan or they are anime geeks and always wanted to learn Japanese to watch anime without subtitles.  These also include those missionaries who studied Japanese in high school or have, before their call, studied such things as hiragana, katakana, or kanji.  A love for Japanese food may or may not include some missionaries into this group.

2. Blood Related  These missionaries have some Japanese blood running through their veins, whether it be a parent, grandfather, or just an Aunt or Uncle.  Or they even could be full Nihonjin.

3. The Outfielders  These missionaries probably thought they were going Spanish speaking, stateside, or even to Europe and were compleltely blind-sided by their call to Japan.  This doesn`t mean they don`t love Japan, just it wasn`t what they were expecting before their call.  Most of these missionaries get most of their previous knowledge of Japanese culture from when they watched the Karate Kid and The Last Samurai.  The closest thing most of the missionaries that fall into this category probably had before their call concerning Japanese food was either Panda Express or the rice that was found in their mother`s brocolli, cheese, and rice casserole.

Ever since then I have considered myself an outfielder as my closest connection to Japan before the mission was I once swam in the Pacific Ocean on the coast of California and that ocean goes all the way to Japan.  But, ever since the member appointment I had Saturday night I am starting to think there really is no such thing as an outfielder missionary.

So we had a dinner apppointment with an older couple in the ward, and we were chatting as I struggled to pick up every last grain of rice with these two wooden sticks and they asked about my family.  Being the well prepared trainer he is, Elder Siedschlag told me beforehand to bring my photo album of my family.  So, I pulled it out of my handy-dandy shoulder bag and introduced my family.  We got to a picture of all of the kids in the fam-bam wearing our Canadian shirts, and I told them that my Mom was Canadian.  They had actually been to Canada before and had gone to pull out some pictures over there in the land of the Great North.  Now I didn`t think much of it at first when they were showing me the pictures on a plane and everything but then things got interesting.  Those familiar with Albertan geography pay close attention.  The couple showed me pictures of them at Lake Louise and I was like `Jasper, Banff!` pointing at the pictures.  And they were like `Hai, hai`.  And it was pretty cool because I had been there camping before.  And then they pulled up pictures of them at the Cardston temple, and I was like `That`s where my Grandma lives!`  And then things got really weird.  They said they couldn't remember the places name where they went to take pictures by a waterfall and I looked at it and immediately recognized it.  `It`s Waterton!`  And then I dug through my pictures and pulled out a family picture of us at the same waterfall this couple had been to!  It was trippy.  So it was then I realized I actually had a lot more connections to Japan than I thought.  What if I had seen one of my investigators up in Canada one time?!?  So I guess I have connections to places that are hotspots for Asians and Japanese tourists?  Like the strip is full of them and Canada is easy to fly to from Japan.  So when I get back, it won`t be hard to keep speaking Japanese!  So I`ve been starting to re-think this whole `Outfield` label.

Anyways, as the subject line suggests it was my birthday Friday!  And I celebrated it the best way possible by doing missionary work!  But besides that the other three elders I room with surprised me by going to a buffet with tons of Sushi and a grill on the table so that you could cook your own meat!  So that was fun.  And the birthday card from the family was pretty excellent too.  And also, it was a little bit late but my mission president，President Yamashita, and Sister Yamashita called me this morning, and sang to me and wished me a happy birthday.  Now this will be the only time I brag about this but, my mission president happens to be a member of the First Quruom of the Seventy or basically just two steps down the ladder of authority as the prophet.  So, I was wished a Happy Birthday by a Seventy who has spoken in General Conference before.  Talk about a birthday present!  But I still haven`t decided if our mission was so bad that they had to give us a General Authority to keep us in check or if it a reward for being awesome.  But anyways, that will be all you hear on that subject.

This week I was also adventurous and at a Sushi bar we went to I tried raw octupus!  It wasn`t bad but it was just rubbery and it wasn`t favorful.  Maybe I was supposed to Wasabi to add that extra kick.  But other than that I haven`t tried anything I haven`t like so far.  But I can`t remember any of the names of the food so I will probably have to get back to you on that one.  

Hope everyone has a good week and love you！

Elder Hall


The following picture is at Zone Training with President and Sister Yamashita!!

August 6, 2014

Nihon!

After two months of boring everyone with stuff that was happening in the good but bland town of Provo, Utah, everyone can finally read the good stuff of about being in Japan!  

My journey started in Provo at two a.m. when we woke up and left for the Salt Lake City airport at three thirty a.m.  Then we went through security and they confiscated two tubes of toothpaste I forgot to take out of my carry-on and we got on the plane to Detroit.  We had a three hour lay-over there and after visiting Tim the Toolman Taylor`s backyard, we embarked all twelve of us to the Nagoya airport.  We got to Japan thirteen hours later [2:25 a.m. Utah time] and were greeted by the mission president and Sister Yamashita.  We slept the night over there, filled out some paper work, had orientation and then went to the chapel next door to the Yamashita`s house and met our trainers.

Mine happens to be Elder Siedschalg (you prounce it `Zeed`schlag) and he is from Brazil so I guess no Nihongen trainer for me.  He is pretty fun and has been out for a few months and speaks all of the Nihongo because I can pretty much only bow, say thank you, and teach the first discussion so that was very helpful when I went and got my sturdy bike.  Our first week or half a week I guess since I got out to my area has been trying to get everything set up since we just converted our apartment from two people living in it to four of us.  It might be a bit cramped but I think that it is funner with more people around to talk to.

My area is called Numazu in the Shizuoka zone and it is in the corner of the mission in the southeast area.  So I am basically as close to home as I will ever be in the next two years where I am at now.  Mount Fuji is in the area over and we can see it on a clear day but won`t be able to hike it because it is too long and not that safe but we can maybe go to a certain point with our district on a P-day.

In our district there is Axthelm Choro who was my dai senpai at the MTC but I haven`t been able to see him yet and in my zone there is Dickenson Choro who was also my dai senpai and Orellana Choro who was my Chilean friend in my district.  So I have plenty of friends around me.

The weirdest thing I have experienced so far is the toilets.  First the seat is heated which was a shock the first time I sat down and you can also choose to have it spray water at you.  I finally got the courage to have it spray my butt and it was kind of refreshing but then my butt was still wet afterwards so I don`t think I will continue to do that!

Another weird thing was that we taught English class my first full day out in the field and they were having a good-bye party for someone`s grand-daughter in the ward who had spent the summer there and was leaving to go to Dixie State.  So I got to talk English for a little bit which was a bit weird.  But if anyone in the St. George area or at Dixie State sees a Mia Hart tell her Elder Hall says hi.  And speaking of English, we have a Polish investigator who speaks English but he canceled this week`s appointment so I wasn't able to teach in my native langauge.

Anyways, things are good over in Nihon.    Have a great and safe week everyone!

Learning to use chopsticks

Selfie with Elder Siedschalg