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