New Friend and Waffles!

So Takayama is pretty crazy.  My district leader in Numazu had served here before and told me a little bit about it and he said it was really inaka (small town) but it was really fun.  So, I thought that would mean there would be no one on the streets to talk to or there would be snow up to my knees and we would have to phone dendo a lot but it has actually been the quite the opposite.  There are basically two sides of the train station and Vaughn Choro said that one side is the touristy side and the other side is the Japanese side.  We don`t stop and talk to a lot of tourists because, well, we can`t teach them and baptize them and strengthen the ward by talking to them but on the way back from visiting a less-active, we ran into an older Belgian tourist couple that was trying to communicate with some Japanese that didn`t speak English asking for to directions.  We stopped to help but it seemed like they figured where the train station was but we still conversed in conversion.  We asked them what they were doing here and told them about why we were here on a mission and smoothly transitioned to religion.  It was weird because I was able to understand everything and jump in whenever I wanted.  They first said they believe in this weird, higher power that controls the universe and we explained that we believed in God as our Father and they wanted to know more and asked us what our main doctrine is.  I wanted to say the truth but instead we gave them it in the Plan of Salvation and we talked about the Restoration.  In his thick Belgian accent e said after we explained, `That makes sense!`  They were too busy sightseeing to come to church but we gave them a Mormon.org card and luckily I had a small English version of the Book of Mormon I gave them and we told them to learn more on the website and to look up the church and missionaries in Belgium so hopefully the good old Liberts do that.  And if you are serving in Belgium and reading this, you are welcome.  So hopefully something good will come of it and here a great conversion story over General Conference one day.

Besides talking to tourists, we ran into a high schooler Phillipino who tried speaking English to us and invited us to a festival his school was putting together the next day.  So we went, ate some food, and said hi to him and were going to contact him later but then he called us and straight up us asked if we could be his friends.  So, for that day, our stats were 1 lesson, 0 referrals, 2 Less Actives, and 1 Friend.  We will be contacting Jake soon to try make him a friend in Christ by teaching him but overall there are a lot of people to talk to here in Takayama.  We have only ran into two potential investigators again on the streets so it is a lot smaller than Numazu but plenty of work to be done.

The branch here is pretty cool too and I should be able to get really close to all the members since there are less than I am used to and I can speak a tad bit more Japanese than when I first came to Japan. There are about 30 active members but we only have 20 people at church minus the missionaries.  It will be fun to get to know them.

And yes, it being cold was true, I had to pull out my coat once this week but, I can always have the warm feeling of the Spirit inside me to warm me up.  Hope everyone has a good week and sorry for the lack of pictures but next week I will upload some of the new apartment, area, and elders here.  

Love you all!

Elder Hall

Numazu, It's Bean Fun!!

Hello Everyone!

So, a couple things for today.  First, this is my last day as a beanchan so tomorrow I will be fluent, or at least I hope.  Second, I will no longer be with Siedschlag Choro, sadly.  He`s been a good Dad out in the field and I will definitely miss him dearly.  He is actually going to Gifu to be District Leader and will be companions with Elder Esplin in my doki and will live in the same apartment as my MTC doryo Ricks Choro.  And third and possibly the craziest of all, I`m being transfered to...

So we were sitting in the apartment waiting to be called during transfer calls.  This week was senior week a.k.a. the beanchan is the senior companion for the week and has the phone so, when President Yamashita called, I picked it up out of formality.  I was expecting to send the phone immediately over to Siedschalg because the whole district decided at yogenkai (literally prophecy meeting where after DTM we guess where everyone is going) everyone said Siedschalg was going to become District Leader somewhere and that I would stay, all eight of us missionaries guessing said that.  So, I was pretty sure that Siedschlag would leave and I would stay as he had just finished training me and had been in Numazu for awhile which meant I would stay and get a new companion.  But, after President Yamashita asked me how I was doing, he said he needed to talk to me.  So I figured he was telling me who my companion would be here in Numazu after Siedschalg left but he preceeded to say, `Elda Hall, you will be transferring to Takayama and Elda Ban will be your new companion.`  Ban?  `V-a-u-g-h-n` Oh Vaughn.  So there it was, probably the biggest surprise of my life.  I handed the phone over to Siedschlag and once he got off, we both announced to the apartment that I was going to Takayama so I figured that Siedschalg would stay but then he said he was going to Gifu.  So, our apartment is becoming a futari and only Smith and Martini Choro will be staying and they will take over all of our investigators.

 If you don`t know anything about Takayama, well, basically it means tall mountain in Japanese so it is the one of the coldest areas in the mission.  And if you check your calendar it is October now so I am going to switch from the moderate, nice Vegas-like winter of the Shizuoka Zone to the freezing tundra of the Kanazawa Zone.  Good thing I bought all of that winter gear before coming out here!  Also, it is a super small city and it has only a small branch and I will be going from a district of eight people to a district of only four people who all live in the same apartment.  So it will be definitely interesting.  Don`t know how I will react to all of the changes but I am trying to go forth like Nephi instead of like Jonah (because that whole inside the whale thing doesn`t sound too appealing, unless it is warm in there...)  It is just sad that I had to say goodbye to everyone in my district and in the ward and our investigators so soon.  I know I will make new friends in Takayama but it may take some more time.  Luckily, my Vaughn Choro seems pretty cool as I got to talk to him over the phone the other day as I had to call to get the apartment address.  Also, luckily I have all my friends back at home.  Doesn`t matter if you are serving a mission in Asia, Argentina, Colorado, Nicaragua, New York, Florida, the MTC or if you are getting ready to go on a mission or if you live in Provo, Las Vegas, Orem, Idaho, Canada, or Denmark as I really appreciate the support and all of the prayers as I feel them every time I make a mistake or am having a bad day.  So thanks everyone for everything and helping me feel loved as I`ll need all of that as I say good-bye to my bean area and start things over again in the snowy land called Takayama.

Everyone have a good week and enjoy the season of Fall while you can!

Love you all!

Elder Hall

Super (lame) Typhoon!!

So apparently there was this super huge typhoon but we only barely got hit by a little bit of wind and rain.  The mission home still sent out texts to everyone to stay inside until further notice for our safety but that only lasted from six last night to 9 this morning.  So, I am safe, and we have a clear view of Mt. Fuji again with no clouds in the sky.  Maybe it hit the other part of the mission hard but I am still not sure. 

Oh, and by the way, if everyone thought I died because of the typhoon and my e-mail being Tuesday, it is only because yesterday was a holiday (Health and Sports Fitness Day or something like that) and President Yamashita has made our P-days on Tuesdays when there is a holiday on Monday so we can catch everyone who is home on those holidays.  But since today was P-day, we went as a district to Mt. Fuji and some waterfalls.  The waterfall was really beautiful and big and people come all around to see it.  It was pretty fun.  And also I forget to mention that one sister a couple of weeks ago got sent home for a couple of transfers in order to recover from Whooping Cough that she had somehow contracted.  While we miss Neves Shimai, we are excited to have the new edition of Garrett Shimai who is pretty fun too.  I hope you enjoy the pictures I am including in this post because I have been slacking on showing you pictures...

Anyways, this past week was the real time for General Conference.  We got DVD`s with it in Japanese and a couple of other languages (including the one I happen to speak, ENGLISH!!!) so we had the sacrament room for Japanese (since most people speak that language) and a small room for us English speakers, basically missionaries and the couple of gaigen who married Nihonjin.  But it was really good.  I still haven`t seen the last hour of conference, where I heard Elder Bednar talk to investigators, because we had an appointment right after so we had to leave early to bike there.  But it was awesome like usual.  The thing I got from it the most was that we need to always have the courage to face God and have a purpose in our life with our rutter faced in the right direction always looking to eternally progress and continue to get better.  And it is so true!  I just think back to my last month before going on a mission when I was chilling out in Vegas waking up at noon, eating Cheetos and watching SportsCenter and then staying up until one procrastinating packing for the MTC.  I didn`t have a purpose, no job, no school.  I didn`t have my rutter set in a certain direction, just doing donuts in the water with no to show for except for a lot of waves in the Ocean and a thinner O-zone layer from all of the gas I burnt up.  I compare that to now where I have an hour of language study to improve my language, I have every hour planned out in the benefit for others and a set path with my rutter always facing one way.  I am far from being perfect and sometimes my rutter veers me off the path that delays me but with my goals and everything written down, I am aiming somewhere.  Sometimes in life I just wanted to pass another semester at school or turn a year older but the thing with time is that it will always happen.  But I never really looked at myself and said, you know what, if I work on loving others for a month, I can grow and be a better person.  If I study math an hour a day after school, I can get better grades.  I never made goals really.  But now I am trying to do my best to have a direction so I won`t look back after this month and say, `Well, I didn`t improve but I got through a series on Netflix!` but I`ll say `Wow, look how far I have come in doing my home teaching or in my super hard college class or in exercising everyday`.  I think that is what the brethren wanted me to remember and really learn this conference.  I sure it was something different for everyone but I think if we can take what we learned from General Conference and really try to improve on that aspect and to get better at it, we will look back on today and say, `Wow, I am glad I choose then to improve so that I could be where I am today.`

Hope everyone watches and re-watches conference and everyone has a great week wherever they may be.  

Love ya all,

General Conference hasn't happened yet

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week was another great week over here in Japan.  This morning I was trapped inside the apartment for the first hour and a half of my Preparation Day because of a crazy typhoon ``Master the Typhoon is raging!!!``  It was pouring down hard and the wind was pretty insane.  We made the mistake of opening the front door and a bunch of rain came in and got our shoes wet in the genkan.  Luckily, it had started a little bit last night but it wasn`t too bad with my newly bought raingear, and so it ended a little bit before noon.  Now it is sunny and the category 2 typhoon is past.  Unless we are in the eye of the storm and then riding back to the apartment would be killer.

Exciting things that happened this week including me teaching my second lesson in English since being in Japan.  Last night Siedschalg and I went over to the Bagochay family and it was the first time meeting with them since they returned from the Phillipines.  We followed up on the Word of Wisdom and invited him to come to church Sunday.  We explained General Conference and that it would actually be in English so hopefully that will be motivation to come to church.  I said the opening prayer and it was really weird because I hadn`t said a prayer in English in public since entering the MTC so I was trying to realize I didn`t have to stick to a certain amount of grammar patterns.

Also this past week, we had interviews with President Yamashita.  It was really short because everyone in the zone (which includes about 26 missionaries) had to be interviewed by him so we each only go ten minutes.  Something he said to me really stuck out to me.  He told me that if you are improving everyday and that you are now better than you were yesterday, then you are a successful missionary.  It really got me thinking and I think that applies to life in general, missionary or not.  Like imagine from where you are now in your personal progression that you are a million light years away from perfection because let`s be honest, that is where we all want to be someday.  Now one way to look at it would be `Wow, a million light years, that is a lot, no way I can do it.`  Or you can look at it like, `Wow, a million light years, that is a lot, might as well start today.`  If you take it a mile at a day, it might seem like it will take forever.  It might just be a mile at first but you are one mile closer that next day.  And then they start building up.  A year later, 365 miles closer.  A decade later, 3,650 years later and so on and so on.  Like my Mom would always say when I would complain about my chores or homework that I had a lot to do.  `How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.` Wherever you want to be in life, if you just get a little closer than you were yesterday, you are a success.  If you want a better grade in class, study harder and harder each day.  If you want to get a sixpack, start by doing one crunch a day, then two, then three.  If you want to learn a language or be a good missionary, talk to one more person a day, knock on one more door a day, compliment your companion one more time.  At first you might just touch one`s person life or learn one grammar pattern each day but it will start to add up.  After a month, I`ll be talking to 31 people a day, know 31 more Japanese grammar patterns.  All it really takes is step by step improvement.  And then, one day when you are looking back, you`ll notice you are that a tenth of the way there, or half, or there reaching your goal or dream!  So don`t become discouraged if you aren`t the kind of person you want to be yet, or you don`t have a six pack quite yet, or you don`t see yourself having full conversations with Japanese, just realize that you are better today than you were yesterday and tomorrow you will be even better and next year, you might achieve your goal. Hope everyone has a good week!!

Elder Hall

CANADIAN SMARTIES!!

So the new senior couple missionaries are super nice and they have been giving us a bunch of food and they gave us this whole thing of CANADIAN SMARTIES so I was pretty excited to eat them and know that they exist in Japan.  They aren`t as good as the real deal but they are pretty amazing none the less.  And the others in the apartment didn`t really care for them so I ate them all!!!